A True Saiyajin
by Taka
Summary: The Dragonball Z gang is still facing off with the violent Saiyajins, Nappa and Vegeta, while waiting for a newly resurrected Goku. It seems though that someone else has made the scene before Goku and it's another Saiyajin! Rated R for language and violen
1. Prologue: Another Tail

Disclaimer: I wish I owned these two series. Takakashi-san   
and Toriyama-san retain those rights. Those lucky . . . .   
*Incoherent muttering*  
  
A True Saiya-jin  
A Ranma ½/ Dragon Ball Z Crossover  
By Hawk  
  
Note: This takes place during the Saiya-jin saga and goes   
onward from there. This fic starts when Vegeta calls a   
three-hour truce in the fighting, thinking that when   
"Kakarrot" arrives, things will get much more interesting.   
I'll probably be using Krillin instead of Kuririn cause it's   
easier to spell and remember ^_^; Same thing goes for   
Bulma instead of Buruma. Parts of the story will happen a   
little differently, such as different lines spoken or small   
parts left out mainly because I don't have a perfect memory   
and I've seen a lot of the original.   
That's all from me. Enjoy! ^_^  
  
Prologue - Another Tail  
  
". . . Well, there you go. Three extra hours of life.   
Enjoy them," Vegeta explained, smirking at Piccolo and   
Krillin.  
  
"I'm . . . I'm sorry . . . but I got so s-scared . . ."   
Gohan mumbled to Piccolo and Krillin a little bit later.  
  
"Away with you then! We have no use for a   
coward," Piccolo growled, looking down at Gohan angrily,   
arms crossed over his chest. "I was a fool to expect so   
much."  
  
"Hey, come on . . . it's his first fight . . ." Krillin   
spoke quietly, large drops of sweat dripping off his   
forehead.  
  
*The way the big one cowered . . . that must mean .   
. .* Piccolo thought, glancing at Vegeta and Nappa the   
corner of his eyes. *That the little one is even _more_   
powerful . . . it's hopeless . . .!*  
  
"I still don't get it . . . why do we want to wait for   
Kakarrot?" Nappa growled to Vegeta.  
  
"Be cause he's a traitor to all Saiya-jins," Vegeta   
answered from where he was sitting on a large boulder,   
placing his scouter over his ear. "A traitor deserves to see   
his son and friends die before his eyes . . . deserves to feel   
how powerless he is . . . how much agony we can inflict . . .   
Until after three or four hours . . . heh . . . he'll beg us to   
send him to hell."  
  
"Ha! I should've had faith in you!" Nappa shouted,   
clenching his fists in excitement.   
  
"That's _if_ he shows up in three hours . . ." Vegeta   
added.  
  
"You can have Kakarrot, but let me do those three!"   
Nappa exclaimed, his face lighting up with a massive grin.  
  
"Do whichever you want . . . but _after_ we make   
the Namek talk about the Dragon Balls," Vegeta answered   
with a wave of his hand.  
  
"Mmm . . . I hope he shows up . . ." Nappa   
rumbled.  
  
"Damn! What's _keeping_ him!?" Krillin shouted,   
clenching his fist in frustration. "Did he really come back   
to life!?" He turned to Piccolo, eyes wide with fear. "Why   
don't we just run away!? Why just stand here and _die_!?"  
  
"Fool . . . they're planning to annihilate mankind   
anyway . . . Do you prefer to die running or standing . . .?"   
This was Piccolo's quiet and stern reply.  
  
*Rrrrg . . . _PLEASE, Goku! Come quick! And be   
more _powerful_ than them . . . PLEASE!!* Krillin thought   
frantically, fist clenched, sweat pouring down the sides of   
his face.   
  
*********  
  
Up on Kami's lookout:  
  
"Where _is_ he!?" Kami-sama whispered to   
himself, a lone drop of sweat sliding down the side of his   
head.   
  
*********  
  
*Still not going fast enough!* Goku thought angrily   
as he raced above Snake Way at his top speed.  
  
*********  
  
30 minutes into the truce:  
  
"But Vegeta, this is boring!" Nappa whined before   
fairly snarling, "I wanna go _kill_ something!" He drove   
his fist into his palm for emphasis.   
  
Vegeta raised an eyebrow Nappa's uncommon   
behavior. "Remind me to look into having you de-wormed   
again."   
  
Nappa grumbled something unintelligible. He   
_hated_ being de-wormed. "But I'm bored! Can't I go have   
some fun?"   
  
Vegeta snorted. "Fine, but be sure to return once   
three hours have passed." He crossed his arms and gave the   
three remaining Earth fighters a smug look, daring them to   
try something.   
  
The three really didn't try anything, but they did do   
something. As Nappa rose into the air, all three turned their   
heads to the right, almost in unison. Something was   
coming? It was heading right for them.  
  
"You think it's Goku?" Krillin asked Piccolo in a   
whisper.   
  
"Not sure, Krillin, right?" Piccolo answered. "But  
who else could it be?"  
  
"Ya . . . Krillin." the short bald man nodded.   
  
"It's him, it has to be him!" Gohan shouted in   
excitement. "I knew he'd make it!"   
  
"Huh?" Vegeta grunted looking away from Nappa   
to the three fighters. "What're you talking about?"  
  
"Goku's back! Hah! Now you're gonna get it!"   
Krillin exclaimed happily, tears forming in his eyes. "He   
made it! Haha!"  
  
Both Vegeta and Nappa looked around seeing   
nothing.  
  
"What the hell are you talkin' about!? I don't see   
anyone?" Nappa growled in frustration from where he   
hovered 40 feet in the air.   
  
Snapping the scouter to the side of his head, Vegeta   
looked in Nappa's direction and pushed the button on the   
side twice. Beeping two times, strange signals appeared in   
the screen along with two yellow dots. One figured on   
Nappa and the other appearing father off in the direction his  
Saiya-jin companion was looking.   
  
He read Nappa's power around 3000 having   
dropped 1000 from fighting with the Namek and the small   
bald man. Vegeta snorted to himself. It was wonder why he   
even kept that weakling around. His gaze swept to the other   
power level.   
  
Now this was interesting. The power level was only   
at 500 so it couldn't have been Kakarrot. But! There was   
no way of being sure until the fighter presented himself.   
*Damn earthlings and their power level hiding shit.* he   
thought to himself glaring at the position of the oncoming   
fighter.  
  
"Well?! What the hell is it?!" Nappa shouted   
angrily.   
  
"It's nothing much. Only 500, but we can't be sure,"  
Vegeta explained before thundering irritated, "And don't  
snap at me you idiot!"   
  
Nappa grumbled something unintelligibly before   
realizing something. "Only 500? That can't be right!" he   
exclaimed surprised. "Can it?!"   
  
"That's what the scouter reads, idiot! Besides, he's   
probably hiding his real power! Pay attention!" Vegeta shot   
back nearly snarling.   
  
"500?" Krillin asked in disbelieve and to no one in   
particular.   
  
"He has to be hiding it," Piccolo clarified sharply,   
eyes narrowed, a drop of blood dribbling down the side of   
his face.   
  
"Piccolo-san's right! With all the training he's   
received, who knows what new techniques he's learned!"   
Gohan exclaimed worriedly yet somewhat excited.   
  
"Nappa! Get down here!" Vegeta snapped at the   
over sized Saiya-jin.   
  
"But-!" Nappa started.  
  
"Now, dammit!" Vegeta snarled.   
  
Muttering incoherently, Nappa slowly descended   
landing with a soft thud. "This sucks," the monkey   
tailed man final said something everyone could hear.   
  
"Deal with it, you damn gorilla!"  
  
"Vegeta!" Nappa whined pathetically.  
  
"I feel like I'm a zookeeper," Vegeta muttered   
rubbing his forehead, glancing at the frowning Nappa   
before imaging him as a large, hairy gorilla. *Yep.   
Definitely a gorilla.* he thought sardonically.   
  
"Look! I can see him!" Gohan shouted suddenly,   
pointing at a small glowing speck in the sky.   
  
*Doesn't feel like Goku.* Piccolo thought,   
intrigued yet worried at the same time. He stole a glance at   
Gohan, smiling slightly at the young fighter. He narrowed   
his eyes at the speck, now much larger than before.   
  
For now, all they could do was watch and wait.   
  
Ten minutes passed.  
  
"Sonofabitch! What's taking him so damn long!?"   
Nappa swore loudly and angrily.   
  
"Have patience Nappa. Just think. Once he gets   
here, the fun will really begin," Vegeta explained before   
chuckling dryly. "Heh!"  
  
"I can't wait any longer! I'm goin' over to him!"   
Nappa hollered before leaping 50 feet into the air and flying  
in the direction of the much larger, visibly golden, glowing  
light.   
  
"Nappa, get back here!" Vegeta snarled, but to no   
avail. *Stupid buffoon! If the guy's trouble, I'm not helping   
him.*  
  
"Come on you pussy! Lets see what ya got!" Nappa   
taunted, screaming out his insult as well as a wad of spit to   
go with it.  
  
The flying figures battle aura, who was now less   
than 70 yards away from Nappa, blinked out of existence   
along with the person inside.   
  
"Huh?" To say Nappa was dumb folded would have   
been an understatement. Except for the fact that he was   
always dumb, so saying that would be hard to do. In a   
sense. He stopped flying immediately only to stare   
idiotically at the place the battle aura had just been.   
  
"What the fu. . .," Vegeta faltered, eyes wide, mouth  
slightly agape, arms uncrossing over his chest and dropping  
to his sides.  
  
"Where'd he g-!" Was all that left Nappa's mouth   
as a leg appeared in front of his gut. Nappa bent over, eyes   
wide, basically puking out a wad of air. He quickly reached   
to his stomach for the leg, but the leg blinked into existence  
over his hunched back. Soon enough, the massive Saiya-jin  
warrior was streaking toward the ground at an incredible  
speed. Nappa landed with an amazing explosion of dust and  
rock, his body shoved at least 3 feet deep in the ground.   
  
"Incredible," Vegeta whispered, his words echoing   
the thoughts of Piccolo and Krillin. "I barely even saw him   
move!" he growled out loud up at the figure whose body   
was still covered in its golden aura down to the somewhat   
buried Nappa. "Baka,' he muttered, glaring at the downed   
fighter.  
  
"Did you see that!?" Krillin shouted staring at   
Nappa's fallen form, eyes so wide they took up almost all   
of his face.   
  
"Yes," Piccolo growled, eyes scanning the area   
where the gold ball they'd been watching disappeared. Like   
Vegeta, he'd barely been able to see what happened.   
  
The person had appeared in front of Nappa, slightly   
to the Saiya-jin's left side and sent his whole leg, knee   
slightly bent, into Nappa's stomach with in the blink of an   
eye. Immediately after, the fighter had twisted his whole   
body, avoiding Nappa's hands, and sent the same leg onto   
the monkeys back. Nappa's back nearly bent into a 'U'   
shape before he continued with the motion, sending the   
bald giant flying. The fighter had skill, that was obvious.   
  
The whole thing had taken a little less than 2   
seconds. But that wasn't really what Piccolo was thinking   
about. There was something wrong with the way he'd   
disappeared and reappeared in front of Nappa. There was   
something he was missing. The aura he was using now was   
different than the one he'd been using before his virtual   
teleport.   
  
He looked up at the figure along with Krillin and   
Gohan.   
  
"Who's that!?" Krillin shouted pointing up at the   
new comer.  
  
Was that fear he'd heard in Krillin's voice? *What's  
wrong with the guy's looks?* Piccolo thought before  
noticing what both Krillin and Gohan were staring at. "I-it  
can't be!" he shouted, body tensing.   
  
"What?" Vegeta asked looking over to Krillin.   
*'Who's that?' What does that mean? Does that mean this   
guy's not Kakarrot?* He looked up at the golden flamed   
fighter, eyes narrowed. "You!? Who are you . . ." his voice   
went dead as he stared at the exact same spot the other three  
were staring at.   
  
The figure turned his gaze to Vegeta, cold blue eyes   
staring down at him. The fighters aura flared once before   
vanishing completely, smoke rising slowing from the mans   
shoulders and back.   
  
The man was wearing a red, Chinese style,   
sleeveless shirt, with a exquisite golden, Japanese style   
dragon embroidered to the chest. His black pants matched   
the color of his thick boots and the fingerless gloves on his   
hands. His shirt fit like a second skin showing off his   
impressive chest, abs and arms while his pants, slightly   
baggy, hid the powerful weapons underneath from sight.   
  
His hair was a thick midnight black, spiky and tied   
in a pigtail. Three spikes of hair hung from his forehead   
down to his eyebrows and his pigtail ended in four smaller   
spikes itself. The rest of his hair was press flat to his head   
because the pigtail held it down so tightly. He was about 5'7   
maybe 5'8, his face incredibly handsome. His nose was   
sharp pointed, his cheeks and jaw sleek, dark blue circled   
the pitch black pupils in his eyes while his muscle   
definition was molded and tanned to perfection. In his left   
hand, a small, green bean was held between his index and   
middle finger.  
  
But none of that wasn't what the four fighters were   
staring at.   
  
It was the thick monkey tail wrapped around his   
waist.   
  
"Impossible . . ." Vegeta whispered breathlessly as   
he stared in utter shock.  
  
The boy turned to Nappa, who was pulling himself   
out of his self sized hole, grunting while doing so.   
  
"Who's a pussy?" the pigtailed Saiya-jin asked   
smirking arrogantly.   
  
  
Next Time: A Different Tail   
A summary of what, where, when, why and how our   
favorite pigtailed hero became what he is. A summary of   
sorts, going through the 38 volumes hence the title 'A   
Different Tail'. Tail/Tale. I'm sure you all get that.  
  
Authors Notes: You think it'll be easy, but then it's not.   
Took me a while to finish this little thing mainly cause   
schools being a bitch. Gonna continue work on MU4 now.   
Ranma's power level and other stuff you might have   
questions about will be answered so just bear with me. And   
no, Ranma didn't fall into Spring of a drown Saiya-jin.   
You'll find out what happened in Chapter 1.   
Gotta website, I did! http://www.geocities.com/tenma83/ Is   
the place, it is! Sorry, been watching a bunch of Rurouni   
Kenshin lately. Can also be found at   
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Quasar/6189/ and   
http://home.earthlink.net/~tannim/   
Hope you enjoyed!  
Email me at Hawk49er@attbi.com and I'll get back to you   
as soon as I can.   
  
Things you might not of known or should know:  
1 - Nappa has a potty mouth in the Japanese version  
2 - Saiya-jin's have sharp tipped nose. That's why Ranma's nose is 'sharp pointed'  
3 - I figured Ranma's eyes would be like Trunk's. The color of the eye circling the  
black center  
4. Nappa has a potty mouth.   
5. Ranma's power level is not 500  
6. Once again, "Ranma didn't fall into a 'Spring of drown Saiya-jin'." 


	2. Chapter 1: A Different Tail

Disclaimer: I wish I owned these two series. Takakashi-san  
and Toriyama-san retain those rights. Those lucky bas . . . .

A True Saiya-jin  
A Ranma ½/ Dragon Ball Z Crossover  
By Hawk

Note: This chapter is a summary of Ranma's life up to the point  
where Ranma arrives at the fight in the prologue. Things will occur  
differently in this because Ranma's attitude will be different as well  
as his speed and strength.

Chapter 1 - A Different Tail

Ranma age 10:

Genma muttered angrily as he stomped away from his and  
his sons camp site. Today had been the fifth day in a row that  
Rama had cried about wanting to see his mother. He had no clue  
what had gotten into the boy, but five days earlier, he'd just  
started crying. Well, it wouldn't do to have the greatest fighter in  
the World to also be a cry baby!

Genma continued his path through the forest, brow  
furrowed as he thought of the many problems Ranma had already  
caused him. Lack of food. Lack of sleep, thanks to the crying.  
Lack of peace. His anger was starting to seriously take over and if  
Ranma didn't shut up soon there would be hell to pay.

The sound of thunder crashed above him in the sky.  
Blinking once, Genma looked up in confusion at the bright blue  
sky.

"What the hell . . .?" he muttered staring at the sky which  
was quickly being covered by darkness. The black clouds  
continued across the sky till non of the blue he'd seen earlier was  
visible. "Great . . . . rain!" Genma shouted up at the clouds and  
roaring thunder.

But nothing fell. Genma blinked once as the sky roared  
with thunder and lightning. He sighed and restarted his walk  
through the now pitch black forest.

'Perhaps an omen?' Genma thought, a wise expression  
crossing his face, of the darkened sky. 'Maybe the Ma-master's  
gotten free! Maybe that's what this means!' he thought, his face  
turning frantic. He started running as fast as he could back to the  
camp but tripped over an dislodged root.

He stumbled to his knees, before rolling over and banging  
his head on a nearby rock. The anger inside boiled to his brink.  
The lack of food! The crying! The stupid engagements! The lack  
of sleep! The lack of money! It all lead up to one thing in his mind.  
The boy!

Clutching his head, Genma screamed as loud as he could.

"I JUST WISH MY BOY HAD WHAT IT TAKES TO  
BE THE BEST FIGHTER SO HE'D STOP BEING A PUSSY!  
THAT'S ALL I WANT!" All went quiet. "And some money,  
food, maybe some better shelter would be nice," he added as an  
after thought, rubbing his chin. "Perhaps a shave . . ."

---------

Pilaf cackled as the great Shenron hovered in front of his  
insignificant self. Finally! After a year of searching he'd relocated  
all the Dragon Balls and could finally make his wish! He was ready  
to rule the World.

Beside him laughed Mai and Shu, his two faithful servants.  
After five more minutes of evil laughter, Pilaf started coughing and  
hacking over loss of air intake. Mai and Shu stood watching him,  
each sporting a large sweatdrop.

Shenron looked on very unamused.

Wiping the drool from the corner of his lip, Pilaf took in a  
deep breath, regaining himself. Glancing up at the towering,  
massive, green scaled and coiled dragon, he gulped quite audibly.

"I Do Not Have All Day . . ." Shenron stated loudly and  
clearly, his voice sounding like thunder.

"Hah. . ." Pilaf laughed nervously to himself, Mai and Shu  
standing where they were, just plain staring up at Shenron in awe.  
"Right! I wish to be the King and almighty ruler of the worl-!" Pilaf  
shouted as loud as he could at the massive green beast.

"Wi-. . ." Shenron started.

"d!" Pilaf finished before breaking out into another set of  
evil laughter.

"sh Granted. . ." the dragon concluded then began glowing  
a bright yellow, the light blinding those who looked upon it  
momentarily. The light pulled inward, as if being sucked into a  
vacuum before 7 glowing balls appeared in it's place. The balls  
floated in a circle for a moment before bursting apart, each one  
headed in a different direction.

Pilaf continued to laugh, his voice being carried away in  
the night air. Mai and Shu remained where they were, each  
glancing curiously at the spot Shenron had been. For some  
reason, what just occurred didn't quite happen right.

Pilaf continued to laugh at the sky, the world. He owned it  
all!

---------

Genma blinked as the sky cleared abruptly, the thunder  
and lightning dispersing. He stood where he was, still clutching his  
head, eyes wide. It was silent . . . so silent . . . he turned around  
and glanced at his son.

Ranma lay sprawled on his back, out cold.

Shrugging indifferently, happy the boy had shut up, Genma  
unrolled his sleeping bag and quickly went to sleep.

---------

"Ow . . ." were the first words that exited the young  
martial artists mouth. Having slept on the rocky ground all night  
could have that affect on someone, but something else was  
bothering him. It felt like he was laying on his arm, bending it the  
wrong way. The thing was, the pain wasn't originating in his arms,  
but in his lower back. More precisely, right above his butt.

He rolled over immediately, sighing in relief as the pain  
dimmed slightly. He reached behind him, grabbing the aching body  
part and attempted to rub the pain away. What he hadn't been  
expecting was the limb to feel rough and hairy.

Blinking the tears of pain away, Ranma looked over his  
shoulder, getting a better look at his brand new tail. Brand new  
tail? He smiled as it wagged back and forth, as if greeting him.

'Tail?' Ranma thought after regaining his senses. He  
quickly hopped to his feet, the tail automatically wrapping around  
his waist. He grabbed the tail tightly and pulled, trying to rip it off  
of his waist.

"Ow!" His arms went up above his head, tears stinging his  
eyes. Bringing his hand back to his tail, he slowly started  
massaging it. Sniffling a little bit, he quickly made a note to himself  
that squeezing the tail felt really bad. He felt like crying once again,  
but something inside of him seemed to tell him not to. Tell him that  
he couldn't cry. It wasn't allowed. Ranma shook his head, wiping  
the snot out from under his runny nose.

He was suddenly kicked upside the head, falling  
unconscious.

"Neko-ken! Just you wait, boy! You'll be a great martial  
artist yet!" Genma exclaimed as he proceeded to tie his son up  
with rope. "Now all I need is to dig a hole and find some cats . . ."

---------

Genma growled under his breath. "Boy . . ."

"The chain just broke! All I did was stretch a little!"  
Ranma shouted at his father.

Genma rubbed his forehead. First the rope had snapped.  
Then the rope he'd tied Ranma in again snapped. Now the chains  
he'd tied Ranma up with had snapped. Maybe he should just  
make the boy jump into the pit on his own.

"Dad? Why were you wrappin' me up like that?" Ranma  
asked curiously.

"Ranma, come over here, son," Genma said, motioning  
Ranma over toward the pit. "You want to be a great martial artist  
right?"

"Yeah! I wanna be the bestest!" Ranma shouted happily.

"You want to make your mother proud right?" Genma  
asked eagerly. 'Please say yes!'

"Yeah! I wanna make momma proud!" Ranma shouted,  
determination filling is high pitched voice.

"Then jump into that pit!" Genma exclaimed happily,  
quickly wiping Ranma down with catnip.

"Ok!" Ranma cried before jumping into the pit.

"Whatever you do, boy! Don't attack the cats back! Just  
sit back and enjoy!" With that said, Genma quickly covered the  
hole and sat back to wait for the result.

An hour later Genma would remove the lid and find his ten  
year old son standing on shaky legs, millions of lacerations across  
his young body. He was still awake, eyes wide, the cats circling  
him.

30 minutes later, Ranma would jump back into the pit,  
body still covered with cat scratches.

---------

Genma pulled his son out of the pit for the 5th time. He still  
hadn't learned it! The frustration was killing him and the training his  
boy. "One more time . . ." he muttered, holding his barely  
conscious son in his arms.

After wrapping Ranma in a sufficient amount of fish  
sausages, Genma once again dropped his son into the dark pit,  
placing the lid over the top. He moved back to the rock he'd been  
sitting on an waited, for what he planned to be the last time. And it  
was.

His sons screams ceased after 15 minutes, the only sound  
emitting from under the lid being that of the cats calling.

Genma rose to his feet quickly, praying his son wasn't  
dead. What would he tell Soun? He reached the pit in two short  
jumps, but before he could remove it a loud cry gushed out. A  
blinding light broke through the edges of the top, forming a white  
funnel before the lid was blown completely off. Genma was  
thrown off his feet and onto his back as white and black blur  
streaked into the air.

Landing on all four feet, Neko-Ranma let out another cry,  
drops of blood dripping from every open scratch on his body.  
Sniffing the air, Neko-Ranma slowly walked toward his father and  
sat in front of him.

Tears nearly fell from Genma's eyes as he looked upon his  
son. Master of the Neko-ken and only 10 years old! Looking  
Ranma over, he easily noted that his son was faintly glowing white.  
He shrugged it off as being a side affect of the technique. He was  
so proud! So proud in fact, he was going to go make himself  
something to eat.

With thoughts of food on his mind, Genma quickly  
bounded off.

Neko-Ranma blinked once, wondering why the fat man  
had just left. Then he fell unconscious, tipping over onto his side.

---------

Ranma woke up unable to open his eyes, his body  
screaming in pain. He shuddered violently where he lay. "Otousan  
. . ." he called weakly, his voice hoarse and dead.

His small, blood covered arm reached out slowly, shaking  
endlessly. Cut along his eyes lids saw to it that his eyes remained  
closed, scratches were everywhere along his face, covering nearly  
every inch of the rest of his body.

"Otousan . . ." he called out once again, only to receive no  
answer.

An old, craggily sounding voice answered. "Here. Eat  
this," the voice said placing a small, round object in Ranma's hand.  
"It will make you feel better. Whenever you need major healing,  
shout out the word 'senzu' and one of these will fall from . . . uh . .  
. the heavens! Yeah, that's it!"

"Senzu . . ." Ranma said repeating the word slowly. Using  
all the remaining strength in his body, he dragged his hand to his  
face, pushing the object into his mouth with the palm of his hand.

---------

"You're going to help this boy?" Kami-sama asked the  
abnormal looking feline standing in front of him.

Korin looked at the old Namekian. "I see great potential  
in that BOY, who's name is Ranma. He could be a valuable ally  
in the future," the talking cat, who for once isn't associated with  
Sailor Moon, explained sternly.

Kami-sama let out a deep breath through his nose. "So . .  
. how did you find out?"

"Baba Yaga."

Kami-sama nodded, his facial expression turning deathly  
grim and sorrowful.

---------

One year later:

"I wanna go home, Otousan!" Ranma shouted angrily,  
hands clenched at his sides.

"We're not going home and that's final!" Genma shouted  
back, kicking at his son.

Ranma hopped back, quickly dodging the attack, landing  
about 10 feet away. "I wanna see Okaasan!" he screamed, his  
small pigtail rising upward on it's own accord. A few strands of  
hair also rose as Ranma's anger grew.

Genma took notice of this quickly. Over the past year  
he'd watch as his son had steadily changed. He hair had become  
thicker, spikier, and his rattail was now long enough to be a pigtail.  
Which it was. He'd grown taller as well, almost 5'2. Arms and  
legs had grow a little larger, mainly from the muscles he'd been  
putting on. The boy even had a couple abs!

'I'm so proud! What a great teacher I am!' Genma  
thought, ego expanding like a balloon. He was still wondering  
where his boy had gotten that hairy looking sash though. It seemed  
to have grown larger from when Ranma had first found it.

Ranma noticed his father staring off into space and jumped  
at him, punching him hard in the gut. He smiled to himself as the  
larger man went down. "Okaasan!" Ranma shouted kicking his  
father in the face.

Genma groaned loudly.

Ranma took that as his acceptance before grabbing his  
fathers hand and dragging him along the ground.

About 30 minutes later, Ranma realized that he had no  
clue where he was going.

"Otousan? Where's Okaasan?" Ranma asked of his  
father.

Genma groaned, covering his sore stomach with his free  
hand.

---------

Ranma hopped up and down in front of the door, Genma  
standing quietly behind him. Okaasan! He was finally going to see  
Okaasan again! He knocked on the door. Then knocked again.  
And again. And again. He kept knocking until Genma smacked  
him in the back of the head.

End result: Ranma continued knocking as Genma rubbed  
the pain out of his hand.

"I'm coming! I'm coming!" a woman voice called sweetly  
yet tiredly at the same time.

The door opened, a woman dressed in a stunning kimono  
who looked to be in her early 20's on the other side. With dark  
purple hair, she stood about 5'5, her body filled with graceful  
curves. Any normal man would have drooled at the sight. Well,  
Genma did.

Ranma wasted no time latching onto the woman, causing her  
to sprawl backward. She screamed as she tripped over her own feet,  
but stopped when she didn't hit the floor. The young boy had caught  
her some how, while still holding onto her. She looked up at the  
man standing in the door, eyes wide.

"Genma . . .?"

"Ah . . . hi?" the chubby martial artist said weakly.

She looked at the boy attached to her side, his eyes  
closed, face that of pure bliss. "Ranma . . .?"

"Okaasan," the pigtailed boy whispered happily, snuggling  
his mother with his face.

Tears began falling from Nodoka Saotome's eyes.

---------

That night Ranma wondered why his mother and father  
were making so much noise in their room. It sounded like he was  
wrestling with her. Is that how you're supposed to greet  
Okaasan when you come home?

---------

The Saotome men left the house at the crack of dawn the  
next morning.

"Otousan?" Ranma asked his father as they walked away.

"What, boy?"

"Why're we leaving?"

"Because there is still much to be learned."

"Oh . . . Why didn't we tell Okaasan?"

"I left her a note."

"Oh . . ."

A long silence followed.

"Otousan?" Ranma asked.

"What?" Genma snapped.

Ranma cringed slightly but asked his question anyway.  
"Were you wrestling with Okaasan last night?"

"Uh . . ."

Ranma scratched the back of his head. "And why? You  
told me girls were weaker than men, so why would you fight with  
her? You coulda sparred with me if you wanted to fight, you  
know."

"Uh . . . boy . . . you see . . . birds and bees . . . they have  
. . . sex," Genma said lamely.

"Oro?"

---------

3 weeks later Nodoka would awake in the early morning,  
her stomach screaming at her to hurl.

---------

3 years later:

"Hey Oyaji!" a 14 year-old Ranma shouted to his ever  
growing obese father.

"What is it, boy?" Genma called from where he meditated  
on his head, up on a thick tree branch.

Ranma looked up at his father. His father still amazed him  
at times. Though he could do that easily, it was a shock to him that  
his father could. "Don't ya think it's time we visited Okaasan?"

"No."

Ranma's eyes narrowed, his pigtail rising up, floating up,  
the three thick, spiky strands of hair over his forehead as well.

Genma swallowed loudly, nearly losing his balance. "Did I  
say 'no'? Ha! That's not what I meant!"

---------

"Ranma! My how you've grown!" Nodoka shouted  
gleefully as she hugged her boy. "Oh, I've missed you so much!"

Ranma hugged his mother back, head lay content on her  
shoulder, now standing the same height as her. "I've missed you  
too, Okaasan."

Releasing her son for a moment, she turned to her  
husband. "Genma! I have a surprise for you!" she cried happily.

Genma blinked audibly. "What . . .?" he asked slowly,  
cautiously.

"Ranko! Come here, dear!" She called back into the  
house. "Daddy is home!"

"Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" a tiny voice called repeatedly  
before a small 3 year-old with long, curly crimson hair ran into the  
room. She stopped and looked at her mother who beamed back  
at her.

Ranma turned to Ranko, eyes wide. 'Who the hell is  
this!'

Genma looked at Ranko. What the hell is that?

Ranko looked at Genma then at Ranma. She looked back  
at Genma, before turning to Ranma. He looked much more fun,  
and very funny with his face being all funny like that.

Ranma shouted out loud as the small girl latched onto him,  
holding onto him tightly. "Wha! Hey, leggo!"

"Daddy!" Ranko exclaimed happily, closing her eyes and  
smiling in content.

A large sweat drop appeared on each of the heads of  
Ranma, Genma and Nodoka.

---------

1 year later:

Ranma smiled as he walked home, Ranko riding on his  
shoulders. She'd just turned four, a couple weeks after he'd  
turned 15, so the past weeks had been a time of great celebration.

Ranko giggled happily as she rode upon her older brothers  
shoulders. Even though she knew he was her brother, she still  
considered him to be her replacement father. He spent all his free  
time with her, playing games and teaching her neat tricks.

They'd been together for the whole year, hardly apart  
from one another. Always spending time with each other. Many  
times she'd enter his room at night, asking to sleep in his bed  
because she'd had nightmares. Ranma would let her sleep in the  
bed while he slept on the floor, not minding as he was quite used  
to it.

As he entered the house, he came face to face with his  
father. "What is it, pop?"

Genma presented Ranma with his backpack. "We're  
going again. We've been here to long already," he explained  
sternly.

"What! I don't wanna leave! Can't we just finish my  
training here?" Ranma argued angrily.

"No! There's still a lot you have to learn!" Genma replied  
giving Ranma a glare.

Ranma's glare faltered a little. He could easily beat his  
father to a pulp right there and then, but he too knew, that there  
was much more to be learned. There always was.

Ranko complained when Ranma pulled her off his  
shoulders and placed her on the floor. He knelt down so he was  
level with her, looking into her crystal blue eyes. "Ranko . . . I  
have to leave." He sighed.

"What? Where are you going, Shuuto?" Ranko asked,  
calling Ranma by his nickname.

"Training. I have to go train again," he answered  
soothingly.

"When will you come back?" she asked, a lone tear  
running down her young face.

"I don't know, Youjo," Ranma replied, wiping the tear  
away and smiling kindly at her naivete.

"Can I come with you?" Ranko asked suddenly, sounding  
quite eager.

Ranma blinked and looked up at Genma who smacked  
him on the head. He turned back to Ranko, expression sullen.  
"Sorry, Youjo, I don't think this type of thing is for you. Besides!  
Who'll keep Okaasan company if you come with us?"

Ranko slumped in defeat, falling back onto her rump. Her  
lips formed a pout, then a frown, and tears began falling faster. "I  
don't want you to go!" she cried, wiping the tears away with her  
arms. Genma sighed. God he hated this emotional stuff. "I'll be  
outside . . ." he said walking out the door.

Ranma gathered Ranko into his arms, hugging her as  
gently as he could, for fear he might break her in two. Sometimes  
he didn't even know his own strength. "Don't worry, Youjo. I'll  
come back. I promise." He smiled brightly at his younger sister,  
wiping her cheeks clean.

"Promise?"

"Promise. And you know us Saotome's."

"We always keep our promises," the two said in unison,  
before sharing a short laugh.

Standing up, Ranma went in search of his mother.

---------

4 months later:

"Damn you, Saotome! That last piece of curry bread was  
mine and you know it!" one Ryouga Hibiki shouted loudly at his  
pigtailed opponent.

"Hey! It's not my fault you're too slow!" Ranma called  
back, a confident smirk riding his lips.

"That's the final straw, Saotome! Prepare to die!" Ryouga  
exclaimed moving himself into a rather sloppy fighting stance.

Ranma blinked 'Die? This is the first time anyone's ever  
said that. He must be really pissed.' he thought before shrugging  
his shoulders. "Oh well. Might make the fight much more better."  
He smiled, anticipating a great fight to come.

Without letting Ranma prepare himself, Ryouga leapt at  
the pigtailed boy. He threw a punch. Then another. And another,  
adding a couple kicks to the mixed.

Ranma sidestepped each punch, stepping backwards as  
well. Jumping over Ryouga's errant leg, he kicked the yellow and  
black clad boy in the chest.

Ryouga went flying off his feet, across the yard, through a  
tree, and into the lunch halls wall.

Ranma's shoulders slumped.

---------

Three weeks later:

"Like that?" Ryouga asked as he finished a simple looking,  
yet actually quite complicated kata.

"Pretty close," Ranma replied. "You missed a couple of  
steps," he reprimanded.

Ryouga growled under his breath. If Ranma weren't  
teaching him how to fight better . . .

"Hey, don't be sore at me! You want to be able to beat  
me right?" Ranma asked seriously yet in a slightly annoyed tone.

"Yeah . . ."

"Well, I want someone who can actually provide me with  
a decent match. Now try it again."

'Stupid jerk . . .' Ryouga thought. He'd show Ranma!  
He'd defeat Ranma one day and prove how much better a fighter  
he was.

One year later:

"Here sirs, we come to the cursed springs of Jusenkyo,"  
the Chinese guide said indicating to the numerous amount of pools  
which donned the valley.

"This is it, boy. Are you ready?" Genma exclaimed smiling  
broadly.

"This place ain't so impressive," Ranma muttered eyeing  
the valley of springs wearily.

"You very strange ones, yes? This place very dangerous.  
No body use now. Is more than 100 springs here and each one  
have tragedy," the guide explained hoping to get his point across.

"Ranma! Follow me" Genma shouted leaping up and onto  
one of the many bamboo poles.

"Right behind ya!" Ranma called jumping onto a pole  
opposite of his fathers.

"Ah, Sirs! What you doing?" the guide yelled frantically.  
"I no finish my tragic story!"

"I wont go easy on you," Genma said quietly adopting a  
offensive stance.

Ranma chuckled. "And that's gonna make any  
difference?" he replied taking up an offensive posture of his own.

"Please sirs! Very bad you fall in spring!" the guide  
shouted.

If anything, the two martial artists took those words as a  
signal to begin. Genma leapt into the air, followed moments later  
by Ranma. A couple of blow later, the two landed on the others  
original pole. The two jumped at each other again, this time with  
Ranma kicking Genma in the back and into an adjacent pond.

Landing on another pole, Ranma waited for his father to  
resurface by taunting. "What's the matter pop? We done  
already?"

That never happened as a rather large panda did instead. "Wha-what the hell?" Ranma shouted in confusion,  
already losing his balance.

"That spring of drown panda!" the guide called from  
below. "Very tragic legend of panda that drown in spring two  
thousand years ago. Now whoever fall in spring take body of  
panda!"

Landing on a pole, the panda immediately launched itself  
at the gawking boy. Being smacked in the back of the head,  
Ranma flew towards a different pool than his father, eyes and  
mouth still wide.

"Cra-"Splash

---------

Raditz laughed weakly, yet it still managed to come out  
loudly. "You fool cough this thing on my face doesn't cough  
just give power levels," he said with a grin, blood running down  
from his lip.

"What do you mean?" Piccolo asked, startled by this new  
development.

Coughing, Raditz explained hoarsely, "They're also  
communicators. Right now, cough two saiya-jins, more  
powerful than me are listening. Heh, knowing them, they'll be here  
for those dragon balls you talked about cough they'll just wish  
me back to life . . . Heh! I'd say you've got about a year, then you  
cough and everyone else you know will be dead!" The dying  
saiya-jin warrior gave one final laugh before slumping to the  
ground, lifeless.

---------

Ranma, currently male, strode into the village confidently,  
followed by his panda father and eager looking Chinese guide.  
He'd used his ki to disintegrate any water that came near his  
person, making sure his curse wasn't activated. He couldn't  
believe his terrible luck. How could such a curse be place on him?  
It wasn't fair dammit! It made him look like a complete fool! A  
weakling!

Many wrinkled female faces turned to the newcomers,  
having sensed a powerful aura among them. Every aged eye stared  
at the boy that strolled purposely, and quite angrily into the village.

Ranma took note of the two women fighting on top of the  
large log, watching their skirmish for a little. "Pathetic . . ." he  
muttered as he watched the purple haired girl take an advantage  
over her opponent.

"Really? Would you care to prove yourself?" a decrepit  
voice asked behind Ranma.

Ranma whirled around, his arm sweeping the area that had  
been behind him at an incredible speed. To his surprise, his fist  
failed to connect with anything.

"You shouldn't sneak up on me like that. You could get  
hurt," he said looking the small, wrinkled covered woman in the  
eye. How'd she manage to sneak up on me like that . . . I didn't  
even sense her coming!

Cologne stared at Ranma's semi-flaming fist. "Yes . . . I  
can see that," she replied warily, having just avoided his fist. 'The  
boy has amazing speed . . . but it could be much better.'

"And 'no'. I would not care to prove myself," Ranma  
growled angrily, the ki around his fist vanishing as he moved it  
back to his side.

Cologne stared the boy in the eyes, letting him know she  
was not afraid of him. She was impressed that the boy kept and  
held her gaze. "A tail?"

Ranma's tail twitched. "You noticed," he replied simply.

"Kind of hard not too . . ." Cologne said cooly.

"You're the second. Neither my mother or father have  
really taken notice of it. They believe it's a sash," Ranma explained  
calmly, his tail unwrapping around his waist and hang down limp.

"Who is the other?"

"My younger sister . . ."

Cologne nodded. "Yes . . . but she does not have a tail  
herself, I know this."

"Yeah . . . so?" Ranma asked cautiously.

"I have heard from a friend of mine that another boy with a  
monkey's tail was about . . . I didn't believe it until now," Cologne  
asked before breaking eye contact. "Tell me. Is your name, by  
chance, Goku?"

"No. What do you know about this?" Ranma queried, his  
tail waving back and forth.

They were cut off as a loud voice began shouting angrily in  
Chinese. Looking over, they both gazed upon the purple haired  
girl shouting at the giant panda.

"Is that your panda?" Cologne asked, raising a white  
eyebrow at Ranma.

"Yeah . . . sorta . . . unfortunately . . ."

Cologne grinned.

---------

"Bringing Ranma back from China.  
Saotome."

Soun read the postcard again, tears streaming down his  
face as old memories of his friend raced through his mind. "At last!  
Ranma is coming! How I've waited for this day!" Soun quickly  
wiped his eyes clean.

Soun wasted no time in calling his three daughters Kasumi,  
Nabiki and Akane down to the living room. As they knelt in front  
of him, waiting for him to speak, Soun noted that while Nabiki was  
dressed in a kimono, and Kasumi in her usual yellow dress, Akane  
was still in her training gi, fresh from the dojo. He considered  
saying something to her about it but since he himself was wearing a  
gi, he supposed it would be alright, after all this was Genma  
Saotome, not the emperor of japan.

---------

"I'm Ranma Saotome. Sorry 'bout all this," Ranma said as  
politely as he could, looking over the Tendo family. "My father  
here," pointing at the panda next to him, he added, "is a big dumb  
idiot."

"Growf!" Genma argued.

"Shut up, Oyaji."

"Ah . . . excuse me for interrupting, but . . . is that a tail?"  
Nabiki asked, staring wide eyed the long and brown haired  
object.

"Yes. Thank you for noticing," Ranma replied simply and  
dumbly.

The three Tendo daughters ogled the hairy limb silently.

Sighing deeply, Ranma replied to their silence. "I can't  
remember."

---------

1 week after Ranma's arrival:

"Stupid Kuno . . . I wish he'd just learn to give up!"  
Ranma growled as he preformed a kata of extreme complication.  
Of course, the fact that he was doing it on the chain-link fence  
while walking home didn't really say anything much about said  
kata to the public.

"He seems to really like your female side. Even when  
you're beating him to a pulp in it," Nabiki commented lazily, while  
smiling within. Boy was Kuno making her a fortune.

"Yeah, well-" Ranma's arm lashed out, grabbing the red  
umbrella before it could impact with his skull, "it's really getting on  
my nerves."

"I've found you at last, Ranma! This time you're not  
getting away from me!" a figure down the street shouted angrily.

"Hey, Ryouga! Long time!" Ranma exclaimed, throwing  
the umbrella back.

Ryouga caught his umbrella easily, holding it by his side a  
moment later. "You and me, Ranma! Right now!" he called before  
charging full speed at the pigtailed boy.

Smiling despite his current annoyance, Ranma leapt from  
the fence and at his attacker. "Hope you're ready, Ryouga! I'm  
expecting a challenge from you now!"

Whatever people happened to be walking that street  
quickly cleared, making room for the two oncoming martial artists.  
Most left the scene, paying it no mind, while others stayed to  
watch. Akane and Nabiki, were of course part of that group.

Ryouga started the reunion with a punch, aiming for  
Ranma's face. The attack came fast. Faster than Ryouga's usual,  
Ranma leaping to the side to avoid it.

The crowd rushed out of the way as Ranma flew past, into  
the fence and bounced off, soaring straight at Ryouga's side. The  
lost boy lashed out with a kick which Ranma flipped over in mid  
flight, landing behind Ryouga.

Ranma punched at Ryouga's head twice, the first being  
dodged and the second ducked under. Shouting in surprise,  
Ranma flew back and landed on his butt as Ryouga's uppercut  
caught him by surprise. Ranma shook his head, blinking at his  
rival/student. "Hey! You actually managed to hit me!" he called  
happily.

"Shut up!" Ryouga shouted, embarrassed, jumping at  
Ranma again.

Ranma rolled backwards and onto his feet, avoiding  
Ryouga's drop kick. He leaned back, dodging the lost boys  
roundhouse before kicking up with his own leg.

Ryouga flipped backwards, barely dodging the kick.  
Reaching up, he quickly pulled three bandanna's off his head,  
throwing them at his rival.

Lashing out, Ranma's right hand caught all three  
bandanna's easily, spreading them out like a fan in his fingers. He  
grinned wickedly before throwing them back.

Clenching his teeth, Ryouga pulled his arm back and  
screamed loudly as he swatted the bandanna's out of the air, all  
three exploding on contact. He grinned as the three clouds of dust  
around him floated to the ground. "You're not the only one who's  
learned how to use their ki, Ranma. The day after you left, I threw  
myself into my training. Non stop. All day and night," Ryouga  
explained steadily.

Ranma's eyes narrowed. "Good. That'll just make this  
fight all the better." Ryouga leapt at Ranma, screaming loudly, his fist covered  
with a flaming red ki. His fist smashed into the ground, and through  
it as Ranma jumped away.

Hopping back at Ryouga, Ranma began throwing a flurry  
of punches, his arm becoming a literal blur.

"DIE!" Ryouga screamed, his ki growing larger and he  
proceeded to fight right back, accepting everyone of Ranma's  
punches.

Ranma continued punching Ryouga while dodging at the  
same time. If only he could show Ryouga just how much stronger  
he really was. One of his harder punches could have easily  
knocked the lost boy out, but he refrained from doing so. This was  
the first fight in awhile that he was actually enjoying and wanted to  
last.

Pulling back his fist, Ranma punched Ryouga across the  
face using only about half his strength.

The lost boy stumbled, his rocked to the side. "You . . ."

"I what?" Ranma asked condescendingly.

"You'll have to do better than that, SAOTOME!" Ryouga  
shouted, snarling the last part, his fist flaring to life.

Ranma's eyes widened as one of the hardest punches he'd  
felt in his life landed on his gut. Thrown off his feet, Ranma landed  
on his ass, before rolling across the street. "Looks like this fight  
just got all the better . . ." he quietly whispered to himself.

---------

"What do you think you're doing?" Akane screamed  
angrily, ignoring Ranma's attempt at a puppy dog face.

"Nothing! I swear!" he exclaimed innocently.

"Then why were you going through my underwear?"  
Akane hollered, a blood red aura forming around her person.

"Uh . . ." Ranma dead panned. Think fast, Saotome!  
"Er . . . I think I have amnesia? Besides, who'd wanna go through  
your underwear drawer anyway?" he tried lamely while thinking  
angrily, Really smooth brain . . . really smooth . . .

Akane's face twisted in such a way that Ranma could no  
longer tell it was even her. The only words out of Ranma's mouth  
before Akane mallet hit him into Lower Earth Orbit were, 'Ack!'

---------

"My head hurt?" Ranma tried hopefully moments before  
being punted through the roof.

---------

"My conscious said not to?"

-Wack-

'Dammit!' Ranma thought as he sailed the skies.

---------

"Ack! My eyes! I'm suffering from temporary blindness!"

-Smash- -Crash- -Bang- -Crack

"Pervert!" Akane screamed as he quickly covered her  
nude body with a towel.

---------

"I was sleepy. It seemed like a comfortable place to  
sleep." Ranma shrugged before being socked in the face then  
punted through the roof.

"Kasumi's bed is not a place for you to be sleeping!  
Especially when she's in it!" Akane cried furiously at Ranma's  
disappearing form.

"Oh my!" Kasumi exclaimed for what had to be the  
millionth time since waking up. Next to Ranma's half naked form  
that is.

"I'm so happy!" Soun cried. Not as in shouting, but  
actually crying. Tears and, well, you know.

"Never knew sis had it in her . . ." Nabiki whispered,  
looking upon Kasumi with a new form of respect.

"Oh my!"

--------

Ranma-chan shouted in pain as her back was smashed  
against the concrete wall heavily. "Damn, bitch!" he screamed  
charging Cologne.

Said 'woman' thrust her wooden staff forward, aimed at  
Ranma's chest. A large gust of wind exploded from the staffs end,  
this time smashing Ranma-chan through the wall.

"You're quite impressive, boy! But you're a couple  
hundred years to young to beat me. Give up," Cologne explained.

Ranma-chan climbed out of the hole, eyes narrowed, the  
blue pupils looking light miniature blades. "The name's Ranma!  
And I ain't giving up, you old hag! Gimme that damn pill!"

Cologne sighed. "You really want this pill?" she asked  
holding up the pill attached to her necklace.

"Yes . . . now gimme that goddamn pill!" Ranma shrieked,  
a couple windows in the building behind her shattering at the  
sound.

"I'll make you a deal . . . I know this technique," Cologne  
started slowly.

Ranma stopped at the word technique. "What kinda  
technique?"

"A speed enhancing technique. It's called the, Kachuu  
Tenshin Amaguriken."

---------

"Bakusai Tenketsu!" Ryouga screamed, slamming his  
finger into the ground in front of Ranma.

Ranma grit his teeth as shards of rock flew into his  
blocking arms. He backed away from his opponent, waving his  
scratched limbs about. "Argh . . . Pig-boy's gotten a lot better," he  
muttered, licking some blood off of his lip. 'Damn, those rocks  
must be flyin' everywhere.'

Ryouga right fist caught him across the chin and he lost his  
balance, stumbling to the side. He was backhanded before being  
punched in the cheek by Ryouga's left hook. As he staggered to  
his right, the lost boy slammed his fist into his stomach, knocking  
him off his feet and onto his butt.

Flipping back to his feet, Ranma twisted his body in time  
to dodge punch. He kicked up, knocking Ryouga's arm away and  
rammed his elbow into the lost boys chest.

Ryouga staggered backwards, rubbing his chest. "Ha, that  
actually stung," he mocked before punching his finger at Ranma's  
skull. "Bakusai Tenketsu!"

Ranma clenched his teeth as Ryouga's finger pressed  
against his forehead. After taking a moment to realize that nothing  
had happened, he grabbed Ryouga's wrist, twisted the lost boys  
arm around and kicked him in the side. He jump up, pulling the  
lost boys arm with him and punched Ryouga in the face. Placing  
his foot on the Ryouga's chest, Ranma pushed off, kicking Ryouga  
back and through a couple of trees.

A broken tree was abruptly lifted off the ground and  
swung like a bat, catching Ranma off guard, hitting him through a  
couple trees of his own.

---------

"Who the hell are you?" Ranma asked sizing the small man  
up. Wasn't much to size up though.

"I am Happosai! Grand Master of the Anything Goes  
School Of Martial Arts!" the short, balding man exclaimed.

"You've got to be kiddin' me . . ."

"Sweeto!"

---------

"The boy intrigues me, yes. His power and skill are  
amazing for one of such an age. Why, just the other day, he  
punched me in the face. Genma and Soun said I was out for a day  
. . . I especially enjoy his curse though!" Happosai exclaimed  
happily as an after thought.

"The boy has what it takes to be the best. He learned the  
Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken immediately after witnessing it. He's  
been displaying his ki at an amazing rate and every time I see him,  
I feel that his access ki has grown. He's simply incredible,"  
Cologne explained thoughtfully.

Happosai took a smoke from his pipe. "True. Everyday  
the boys power grows larger. I've considered using the  
moxibustion pressure point to see how he'd handle it."

"You should. If he proves that he can handle it . . . we  
teach him everything we know," Cologne announced decisively,  
firmly.

Happosai looked at Cologne oddly. "You really think it'd  
be safe to do that?"

Cologne nodded. "If we're ever in great trouble . . ."

"He would indeed make a great ally . . ."

---------

"Hiryu Shoten HA!" Ranma bellowed, his fist upraised  
and pointing at the advancing Happosai.

Green ki uncoiled from his fist, spiraling along with the  
massive winds. The tornado grabbed Happosai, throwing him into  
the air, into the middle of the circling green winds.

"No!" Happosai shouted as the ki filled winds tore into  
his body.

Off to the side, Cologne nodded to herself. Ranma would  
be the one. They would teach him all they knew, for he deserved  
to know it.

With one last shuddering breath, Ranma fell to his knees,  
then onto his face, unconscious and near death.

----------

"You know your Split Hair technique. I improved upon  
it," Ranma announced with a smile.

Cologne's eyebrows raised. "You improved it? How  
could you that when I never taught it to you?"

Ranma shrugged. "I don't know. I saw you do it once and  
figured out how it was done. I pretty much do that with all the  
technique's I see."

"You can learn technique's just by watching them be  
used?" Cologne asked in surprise.

Ranma nodded. "Yeah, that why I learned the Kachuu  
Tenshin Amaguriken so fast. I know how to do the Bakusai  
Tenketsu with out even going through the training, though it  
probably woulda helped some. Make me stronger, ya know. The  
Hiryu Shoten Ha, took me about a minute to realize how to do  
that one," he explained with wry grin.

'Incredible . . . with such a talent, the boy actually has  
what it takes to be the best. Memorizing technique's only by  
watching them being used' She shook her head, looking at  
Ranma. "Why don't you show me how you improved upon my  
Split Hair technique, hmm?"

"Yeah! Check it out!" Ranma shouted, standing up and  
letting his ki flow free around his body. "Instead of using my ki to  
form 12 spiritual like copies of myself." The white ki surrounding  
his body melt off, forming another body. Another copy of him,  
only this one that of his female half. "I can create one solid copy of  
myself. I don't know why it's female though," he explained  
scratching the back of his head.

"Amazing . . ." Cologne muttered as she studied the petite  
redhead. "She looks exactly like your curse form. How do you  
control her?"

"I'm not really sure, I just kinda do. It's like a weird mind  
thing," Ranma said with a shrug, his redhead copy shrugging as  
well. "Makes for a great sparring partner though," he added  
smiling at the girl who smiled back just the same.

Cologne swallowed nervously. The world did not need  
two Ranma Saotome's.

"Wanna know something else?" the two said  
simultaneously.

"What?" Cologne queried.

"I've made some revisions to the Hiryu Shoten Ha as  
well." Ranma and Ranma-chan's smiles lit up the room.

----------

"So how do I do this?" Ranma asked Happosai as he  
rubbed the bra over his cheek in content.

"It's an interesting technique. On everything. Animals.  
Plants. Even this bra! There is ki surrounding it. Ki left behind from  
the person who wore it last, if you will. As of now, I'm currently  
inhaling a large amount of Akane's ki," Happosai explained with a  
smile.

"So how would someone take energy from plants? How  
do those things have ki?" Ranma asked curiously. Disregarding the  
fact that Happosai was rubbing a bra against his face for the time  
being. Normally his female counterpart would have been sitting  
next to him, but not with the grand master pervert in the same  
room.

"All things expel ki, because all things have ki. Ki is  
everywhere," Happosai clarified with a shrug.

"So how do you . . . take it in?" Ranma inquired genuinely  
interested.

"You don't. It comes to you."

"What? I don't get it."

"The ki will only come to you if you don't force it. At  
times, if you force it, it will come to you. Ki is like another life.  
Another person if you will. Ask politely, and it'll come. It can, at  
times, sense when you're in great need and come to you if you  
force it. It's an interesting thing, ki is."

Ranma nodded. "I never really thought about it like that.  
So that bra . . .?"

Happosai smiled. "This bra is giving the excess ki its  
previous owner had to me because I'm not forcing it. I'm just  
simply letting it flow . . ."

Ranma closed his eyes, taking a deep breath and nodded  
once. "Got it."

---------

"Who do you think you are?" Ranma shouted angrily as  
his lunch vanished before his eyes.

The blonde haired man wiped his mouth smugly. "My  
name is Picolet Chardin III."

Ranma's eyes narrowed. Just what he needed. A  
conceited, pompous, snobbish asshole. "That was my lunch!"

"Yes, well, it is your own fault for being to slow," Picolet  
replied arrogantly.

"SLOW?" Ranma roared his aura bursting to life.

---------

A large gust of wind streaked by, blowing the three spikes  
over his forehead and thick pigtail to the side, his clothes rustling  
riotously.

Ranma accepted the pat on the shoulder, but continued  
walking away from the massive, luxurious mansion. "You did  
good, boy," his father praised happily.

"Yeah, whatever, pop. I'm just glad to be outta that hell  
hole," Ranma remarked, jerking a thumb back at the large home.

"Wah!" Soun cried joyously. His daughters were saved!  
None of them had to marry Picolet!

Ranma smiled despite himself. This whole escapade had  
just helped improve his speed a great deal. It seemed somewhat  
worth it, having to dress up as a girl for the time. Besides that,  
he'd showed that snot nose dick who the fastest eater really was.

Oh, if he only knew what other eaters lay ahead . . .

---------

"Who the hell are you and what do you want?" Ranma  
screamed at the figure down the street, dressed in a dark blue  
cloak.

"My name is of no importance to you!" the figure shouted  
furiously, jumping at Ranma.

Ranma laughed out loud at the boys futile attack. "You're  
an idiot!" he exclaimed before swatting the boy out of the air into  
the chain-link fence along the street.

The cloaked covered boy stumbled forward, throwing a  
sloppy punch at Ranma. Grabbing the boys arm, Ranma kicked  
him in the kidney before spinning around and throwing the boy  
back into the fence.

"Pathetic!" Ranma added confidently. "Why were you  
goin' around beating up my friends, huh?"

The boy spat up a large wad of spit on the ground. "None  
of your damn business," he muttered angrily, a second before the  
sky roared to life with thunder.

Ranma crossed his arms. "You're gonna have to tell me  
sooner or later, cause their's no way you're gonna beat me in a  
fight." The rain started immediately, catching Ranma off guard.

A now female Ranma cursed under her breath, the rain  
falling at an incredible rate, pounding and soaking everything it  
could. She watched silently as the now much taller boy stood back  
up, his cloak blocking the rain from his person.

The boy chuckled. "You've lost now, little girl," he said  
condescendingly.

"I wouldn't call me a girl if I were you!"

"I would!" the boy shouted grabbing his cloak and  
throwing it off, letting the rain soak his body.

"Holy shi-!" Ranma screamed before the eighteen foot  
beast swung its arm and smacked her into the fence herself. She  
fell to the ground on her hands and knees, gasping for air. Looking  
up, she growled as the beasts arm prepared to crush her into the  
ground.

The beast roared as its fist smashed into the concrete  
where Ranma-chan had been kneeling. Its free hand shot out,  
grabbing the pigtailed girl out of the air and slamming her into the  
ground.

Groaning loudly, Ranma-chan prepared to dodged the  
hairy beasts next attack but instead watched as its fist was  
deflected to the side.

Happosai stood with his pipe extended, an angry scowl on  
his face. "No one beats up on my heir except me! And sometime's  
Cologne!"

The beast roared, or more likely mooed, again, shaking  
with unbridled fury. It lashed out again, grabbing the closest  
person, that being one Akane Tendo who had refused to leave  
when Ranma had told her to. With one mighty leap, it took to the  
skies, flying away.

Ranma-chan glanced at the spot where Akane had been and swore  
profusely.

---------

Sitting quietly in his bedroom, Ranma contemplated what  
had just happened. The boy he had just fought was definitely a  
Jusenkyo victim, but what kind of spring could create something  
like that. The two hits the beast had managed to get in had hurt  
like hell.

There was something about that, though. His chest and  
back hurt but at the same time he felt good. He felt a little bit  
stronger than when he had first fought the pantyhose using boy.  
Perhaps his body followed the old proverb, 'whatever doesn't kill  
you, makes you stronger.'

The more Ranma thought this over, the more he found  
himself agreeing. After nearly every fight he had gotten into, and  
injured he had felt stronger. Pain brought him strength in the end.  
Perhaps, if he let himself get beat up more often, he would become  
even stronger!

Pain equaled strength. Power came from Pain. Pain . . .  
was power.

He was eagerly awaiting his next battle with the beast even  
more now. His pulse quickened at the thought of the coming fight  
and he soon found himself pacing his room restlessly. No one in  
Nerima really proved to be a challenge any longer. He could  
defeat them all with one simple punch if he truly wished. Holding  
back was the thing that he did though. Also not wanting to reveal  
his true strength was another reason. His strongest punch could  
easily tear Ryouga into two pieces.

Stepping out of his room, Ranma headed downstairs and  
found his surrogate family sitting at the dinner table. "I'm goin' ta  
find this guy. Now."

Soun burst into tears, happy that his daughter was going to  
be saved. "Praise Kami!"

---------

He sneezed.

"Bless you, Kami."

"Ah, thank you, Mr. Popo."

---------

"Come for the girl, I presume?" the tall boy asked, arms  
crossed.

A long silence ensued followed by a large rush of wind.  
His whistled a tuneless noise, ruffling the two boys hair and  
clothes.

"Not really. I'm more here for you than her," Ranma  
suddenly replied irritated. He rubbed his chest a bit, it still being  
sore from the other day. Though his back hurt more, he wasn't  
planning on moving his hands to such an off guard position.

The boy rubbed his side, his stomach and kidney also sore  
from the other day.

"You're only chance at beating me is by changing into  
your curse form," Ranma explained.

"Yeah . . . I know," the boy replied in annoyance. He  
reached into his cloak, grabbing a flask of water and poured it  
over his head.

The boys body grew three times large about 7 times  
wider, his legs becoming skinnier and feet into hooves. Brown,  
rugged fur spread across his body, an eel growing out above his  
butt as a tail, two white wings bursting out of his shoulder blades.  
His face formed into something that resembled a cow, two large  
horns emerging from its forehead. This truly was a yeti-riding-bull-  
holding-crane-and-eel.

"Moo!" the beast bellowed, standing to it's full height.

Ranma grinned, cracking his knuckles. "As a gesture of  
good will, I'll let you make the first move." He spread his arms  
apart, opening himself up for any possible attack.

The beast wasted no time, lunging forward and grabbing  
Ranma by the legs. It picked the pigtailed boy up and swung him  
around, smashing him into a part of the cliff wall. Pulling Ranma  
from the rock wall, the beast swung him at the ground.

Hitting the rocky floor, an impression of his body forming,  
Ranma grit his teeth in pain. He was roughly pulled across the  
ground before being slamming into the mountain side.

---------

"You're late. As usual," Ranma commented as Ryouga  
entered the empty lot, looking utterly misplaced.

"Ranma!" he shouted turning to the speaker. "I've found  
you at last!"

Ranma's face dead panned. "You're the one who told me  
to come here. Got lost again didya?"

"Shut up! Today's the day you lose, Ranma!" Ryouga  
exclaimed.

Ranma hopped down from his perch on a wooden fence,  
landing a few feet in front of Ryouga. "Lets get this over with.  
Whatever this new technique of yours is, I doubt it'll work."

Ryouga took up a position, his hands cupped down by his  
hip.

Ranma sighed deeply, pouncing at Ryouga, readying a  
jump kick.

"Shishi Hokou Dan!" Ryouga cried thrusting his hands  
forward.

Ranma's eyes widened as his world suddenly turned  
green, his skin frying from the intense heat. His stomach lurched,  
pain tearing through every inch of his body moments before he  
passed out.

---------

"You suck, Ryouga! You're a loser! No one would ever  
dream of loving you! You pig!" Ranma cried at Ryouga.

"You shouldn't be saying such things, Ranma . . . they  
really depress me . . ." Ryouga replied, frowning angrily, green  
aura forming around his body.

Ranma waved it off, adding fuel to the fire. "Aww . . . you  
don't know nothing, P-chan. Not only are you stupid, but your  
brain's the size of a peanut. That's why you get lost so much," he  
said with a shrug.

Ryouga growled deep within his throat and cupped his  
hands down at his waist.

Ranma smiled and leapt at Ryouga, punching him in the  
face softly. "You suck, Ryouga!"

The soft punch caused Ryouga to stumble and fall  
backward. Screaming in anger and frustration, he threw his hands  
forward, firing the green ball of ki.

"Shi Shi Hokodan!"

Ranma opened his arms, embracing the green light.

---------

Extending his hand, Ranma shouted, "Shi Shi Hokou  
Dan!" Nothing happened at first, but after a couple seconds, a  
large green bubble formed.

"I think I did it!" he cried happily. The bubble chose that  
moment to explode in his face, sending him backwards and into  
the wall.

---------

"Lets see this move, Ranma," Ryouga said with grin as he,  
Cologne, and Happosai stood watching the pigtailed fighter.

Ranma grinned back. "There is a reason why I made you  
come all the way out here, you know," he explained. They were  
out in the middle of the forest, up in the Japanese Alps.

"I have a feeling he will not disappoint us," Cologne said  
to Ryouga. "Go ahead, son-in-law."

Licking his lips, Ranma extended his arms out to his side,  
palms upward and flat. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes,  
tensing his muscles, veins appearing along his arm.

The trees around him rustled, waving to Ranma with their  
branches.

---------

Kasumi hummed to herself as she hung the laundry up in  
the backyard. The birds were out and singing, the air was calm  
and cool. The sun shown over head, shining down upon the world.  
All seemed in place.

Her humming stopped as the sun was partially blocked  
abruptly. Raising her hand to cover her eyes, Kasumi looked  
toward the sun, squinting her eyes. "Oh my, I didn't know there  
was an eclipse today," she commented in confusion.

The giant blue ball that hovered in front of the sun began  
rising, passing the bright star and going higher. The ball suddenly  
exploded, bursting into what appeared to be a gigantic firework.

"Oh my! How pretty!" Kasumi gushed as it rained blue ki  
over the Japanese Alps.

---------

The rain fell harder as they touched down to the ground.  
Finally! They were free from Dr Gero! Now all they had to do  
was find the boy . . .

---------

"Mom?" Ranma asked. "She's coming here?"

"Yes! Now come on, we have to pack and go!" Genma  
shouted frantically.

"What? Why?" Ranma shook his head in confusion. "I  
wanna see mom."

"No you don't, boy!" Genma exclaimed before Ranma  
grabbed him by the throat, lifting him into the air.

"Why don't I, Oyaji . . .?" he growled, his spiked hair and  
pigtail floating upward.

---------

"Came back for more, eh?" Ranma grunted with a wide  
grin, cracking his knuckles.

"Moo!" Pantyhose cried, leaping forward and using his  
brand new tentacles to lash out at Ranma.

Ranma jumped at the beast, weaving his way through the  
eight attacking limbs. Pulling back his fist, he punched Pantyhose in  
the face, send the creature down the now vacant street.

---------

"Lime. Mint. We are leaving," the figure in the cloak  
stated, heading for the Neko Hanten's exit.

"Hold on!" Ranma exclaimed to the back of his soon to  
be opponent.

"What do YOU want?" the cloaked person asked.

"This girl, you see, she might be uncute, bullhead, and as  
strong as an ox. But . . . I don't take it kindly when people try to  
hurt my friends," Ranma explained cooly.

Akane frowned at Ranma, turning her back to him.

"So I'm gonna return the favor and throw you out!"  
Ranma shouted as he turned around and leapt at Herb.

"Son-in-law, you mustn't lay a hand on that one!"  
Cologne exclaimed immediately, though it was to late.

With his speed, Ranma was already pulling on Herb's  
cloak. Grabbing Herb breast plate, Ranma spun around and judo  
tossed the dragon descendant out the front doors.

Herb bounced off her head on the concrete, before  
flipping over and landing on her stomach, sliding across the street.

Lime jumped Ranma from behind, punching him in the  
head, sending him flying through the wall and onto the street. Mint  
hopped out of the restaurant, jumping into the air and throwing a  
numerous amount of daggers at Ranma's downed form.

Ranma pushed back off the ground, away from the  
daggers which all drove into the cement. Bouncing off the wall  
behind him, he leap forward, flipping his body sideway, his foot  
connecting with Lime's head. Landing on the ground, he crouched  
under one of Mint's punches before uppercutting the smaller boy  
into a lamp post.

He spun around, just in time for a large ki blast to hit him  
in the face. His feet left the ground as he flew back, through a wall,  
and into the Neko Hanten, sliding over a couple of buckets of cold  
water. She groaned once, before passing out.

Herb-chan glided over to Ranma-chan, looking down at  
her angrily. She reached into the folds of her cloak, pulling out  
another bucket, and used the ladle to splash Ranma-chan again.

---------

"What's wrong, boys? Am I to much for you to handle,"  
Ranma-chan asked Lime and Mint from where she hovered above  
their heads, arms crossed underneath her chest.

Ryouga and Mousse were both knocked out, the former  
slumped over a rock, the latter laying on his back, bruises littering  
both their faces.

Mint hopped into Lime's hands who threw him up into the  
air at Ranma-chan. The wolf boy flew at Ranma-chan, sending  
dozens upon dozens of incredibly fast punches at her.

Ranma-chan dodged and blocked the attacks before  
backhanding Mint across the face, sending him flying toward the  
ground head first at an amazing speed. The wolf boy crashed into  
the earth, the ground where he landed exploding around him,  
sending dust and gravel everywhere.

Lowering herself to the ground, her shoes making a soft  
tapping sound as she landed, Ranma-chan looked at Lime over  
her shoulder. The tiger boy leapt at her. His fist crashing into the  
spot she'd been standing in seconds before.

Viciously kicked across the face, Lime stumbled to the  
side, lashing out with another punch. His punch was dodged, and  
he received a fist across his face for his trouble.

Mint attacked her from behind, throwing punches faster  
than Amaguriken speed. Ranma-chan dodged with out looking as  
Lime had gotten up and started attacking her from the front.

Weaving through both their punches and kicks, she back  
flipped away causing Lime to punch Mint on the side of his head.  
Wolf boy went down again, head first into the ground. Ignoring his  
friend, Lime jumped after the girl, his attacks coming faster than  
before.

His face was smashed in with an elbow, followed by a  
knee to his gut, then his face again, this time by the other knee. He  
stumbled back just in time for Ranma-chan's heel to connect with  
his chin, sending him flying and into a pile of rocks a distance off.

---------

"I HATE breasts!" Herb screamed as Ranma-chan  
flashed him once again.

Eyes widening, Ranma-chan flipped sideways, narrowly  
avoiding a massive ball of ki. Landing heavily, she extended her  
arm and fired a ki blast of her own back at Herb.

She glanced up just in time to watch Herb fly over the  
attack like a bullet. He stretched out his arms at her, shooting two  
blasts back at her with both his hands. Seeing an opening,  
Ranma-chan leapt toward the two balls, arms at her side, straight  
as a wood plank.

Herb blinked in shock and recoiled in surprise as he  
watched Ranma-chan seemingly jump into his blasts. His eyes  
widened and he let out a brief scream of 'no' before two petite  
fists embedded themselves in his stomach.

He bent over, coughing and gasping for air at the same  
time, making it even harder to catch his breath, let alone one. The  
palm of her hand mashed against the skinned of his cheek violently  
flinging him toward the earth below. He halted his forward motion  
a few feet away from the ground and quickly righted himself,  
throwing a small ball of ki into the air.

Ranma-chan spun around, dodging the ball and flew down  
at Herb as fast as she could. She appeared on the ground,  
standing next to him, fist shoved as far as it could go in his gut. As  
if by late reaction, Herb remained motionless for a few moments  
before suddenly slamming into the rocky floor behind him.

Hopping back three times, getting a large distance  
between the two, Ranma-chan grinned arrogantly. "You gonna  
give up now?" she asked, crossing her arms under her chest.

Herb slowly pushed himself to his knees and glared  
intently at her, flames of hate burning in the pupils of his eyes. He  
leapt from his knees to his feet, red aura flaring around him  
violently. The ground around him cracked and fissured leaving him  
standing in the middle of a perfectly round crater.

"Now we're talk-!" was all Ranma-chan managed  
before Herb's ki powered fist smashed into her face. She was  
flung backwards, into a wall of rock.

Herb, pressing his advantage, powered up a massive ball  
of ki and chucked it at where Ranma-chan lay imprinted. Rock  
and dust flew every which way as the ball impacted heavily.  
Breathing deeply, and grinning victoriously, Herb glided slowly  
toward the new crater.

"MOKO TAKABISHA!"

Herb's eyes widened tremendously as a blue ball of ki,  
larger than the one he'd thrown, was rocketed right at him. He  
jumped up quickly and fired the largest ki blast he could manage at  
the time, back at the oncoming one. The blue ball explode,  
propelling Herb backwards where he spun about crazily in the air,  
trying to regain his balance.

Ranma-chan flew at Herb, a fiery blue aura surrounding  
her. Her fist readily cocked back, stuck Herb in the head,  
knocking him parallel to the ground. She grabbed his leg, stopping  
his sideways flight and pulled him back to her, punching him in the  
chest, sending him into the ground. "Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken  
Moko Takabisha!" she screamed, sending hundred of small ki  
balls at Herb with the speed of the Amaguriken.

Herb's eyes widened. He'd lost.

---------

Ranma grit his teeth as Ms. Hinako continued to drain his  
ki. She'd already drained a good one-fourth of it and didn't look  
to be letting up. "Damn you! You want more ki! THEN TAKE  
IT!" he screamed before throwing down his fisted hands and  
flaring his aura.

It burst outward, as if his body had caught on fire,  
surrounding his body, blazing powerfully, knocking the people  
watching off their feet. Ms. Hinako shouted as a massive ball of ki  
slammed into her, over flooding her body and knocking her out.

Ranma was left panting, down on one knee, as he had  
pumped two-thirds of his remaining ki into her. It wouldn't be until  
three weeks later that Ms. Hinako reverted to her child form.  
Ranma took this in good nature, allowing Ms. Hinako to drain him  
regularly as it helped make any challenges he had in the future  
harder to handle.

---------

The Urochi's seven smaller heads whipped widely,  
attempting to catch Ranma as he wove his way through the long  
necks. He threw out his hand, firing a ki blast into one of the heads  
that was getting to close to his female copy. He spun around  
quickly, punching another head on the nose, knocking it into  
another head.

He female form continued to dodge around the seven  
heads as he worked on beating them. "Hurry up with that horn!"  
he cried down the Akane and Shinnosuke.

He flew straight down, just avoiding a snapping head, one  
which Ryouga was riding on top of, punching at it's nose.  
Punching upward, Ranma caught the heads neck, knocking it  
upward, bucking Ryouga who continued to beat on its head.

He turned 180 firing a quick ball of ki into the mouth of  
incoming head, blowing out it's teeth, and making his head rear  
upward in pain. It slashed about wildly, nearly smacking another  
head and Ranma-chan in the process.

The sound of a thick horn stopped him from dodging the  
next head, which swayed and dropped slowly back into the lakes  
depths. "Alright, Akane!" he shouted as he and Ranma-chan, who  
was carrying Ryouga by the collar of his shirt, flew over to where  
she was.

A massive splash and roar knocked Ranma and Ranma-  
chan forward, the latter flinging Ryouga onto dry land, away from  
the on coming water. The two turned to look upon the eighth and  
largest head. They cracked their knuckles in unison. "Joy!" they  
exclaimed with broad grins.

---------

"Who the hell do you think you are?" Ranma shouted  
angrily at the boy wearing camouflage pants.

"I'm Ranma Saotome," the boy replied pointedly.

"The hell you are!" Ranma snarled launching himself at the  
boy.

"Don't move!" the boy shouted, causing Ranma to stall for  
a moment. "Moko Kaimon Ha!"

The breath left Ranma as the boys boot shoved itself into  
his gut, throwing him back. He skid across the ground for a bit  
before easily flipping to his feet. He rubbed his stomach, "Strong  
kick . . ."

The boy grimaced. "Strong stomach."

---------

"Now watch closely, boy. I'm only gonna show you this  
once," Genma explained to Ranma in the privacy of the Tendo  
dojo.

Ranma nodded seriously, his eyes never leaving his father.  
He felt the dojo become a little colder and the form of his father  
blurred slightly before disappearing completely. "What the hell?"  
he exclaimed before a blow was struck against the side of his  
neck, knocking him down. All this time, he could still beat  
me . . . were his last thoughts before hitting the floor unconscious.

---------

Soun blinked as large hole appeared in the middle of his  
news paper. He curiously stuck his head through the hole, a  
second before the floor underneath him decided to fall into the  
ground, taking the table and everyone else with it.

---------

"Alright, Ryu! I know how your style works now!"

"You think that'll help you any?" Ryu snorted.

Ranma crossed his arms over his chest. "I think you  
should know, that the Yama Sen Ken is the weaker of the two  
arts. I now know the Umi Sen Ken, which is by far stronger than  
yours."

"Well come prove it! And once I beat you, the secrets of  
the Umi Sen Ken will be mine!" Ryu screamed, clutching his fist  
tightly before charging Ranma. "WATCH OUT!"

Ranma's momentary flinch allowed Ryu's foot to collide  
with his stomach. The battle for the Forbidden Arts had begun.

---------

Ranma groaned as the fat phoenix sitting on Kuno's head  
continued to peck at his. He swung at it before lighting him ablaze.  
"Argh!" he punched and punched at it again, only to have his fists  
lit on fire.

---------

"We've been looking forever? What're we supposed to  
do if we can't find the stupid boy!" a man, maybe no more than  
4'3 feet tall, exclaimed. Blue was his choice of clothing. A blue  
leather jacket, it being a very small jacket, along with blue pants  
and t-shirt.

"We find the boy," a woman, 5'3 in height, with long  
blonde hair, light blue eyes and a generous amount of chest,  
answered shrugging her shoulders. "We have nothing else to do as  
of right now." She wore a yellow leather jacket, yellow baggy  
pants and a yellow t-shirt. A t-shirt that did nothing to hide her,  
well, generous assets.

Taking the picture, a man, about 5'9 in height, dark red  
hair tied into a ponytail, his physic seemingly perfect in stature.  
Red baggy pants, red t-shirt, red leather boots and not surprisingly  
a red leather jacket were his choice of clothing. "Why can't we  
find you. . .?"

"Yeah, but you gotta remember that the picture was taken  
9 years ago," girl replied sternly, snatching the picture out of the  
mans hand.

The picture was of a young boy, maybe around the age of  
10 with spiky black and pitch black, bead like eyes. He stood  
around 5'0, in a dirty and ripped gi, with a large turtle shell tied to  
his back.

"We'll find him. We're close," the fourth person said dully,  
his voice sounding robotic in a way. This one stood around 6'7  
with shaggy black hair and an unshaven face looked at the picture.  
His body was covered with muscles, his sleeveless shirt stretched  
to the limits while his baggy black pants hid his legs

The woman sighed deeply, flicking a few blonde strands  
out of her face. "You're so damn robotical. Can't you at least try  
to talk like a normal person?" she asked, placing her hands on her  
curvy hips.

"No. I have been programed to hunt down and destroy.  
That is my mission."

The small man dressed in all blue, glared at their ebony  
dressed companion. "If you weren't the most powerful of us, I'd  
kick your ass up the wazzoo," he growled angrily.

"My mission is to kill. Nothing more," the man dressed in  
black replied automatically.

"You're a fool," the man in blue growled.

"And you're a shrimp," the man dressed in red  
commented, glaring at the man in blue. "The sooner we get this  
over with the sooner we can get back to the Doctor and kill 'im."

The girl snorted. "That damn pervert's gonna die hard for  
giving me these," she growled, holding up her breasts for a  
moment.

"I don't see anything wrong with them," the small man  
dressed in blue countered, grinning lecherously at the girl.

"Really? You don't think they're too much?" the girl asked  
innocently looking at the small man.

"Yes! They're very nice indeed!"

"They are only breasts. I do not see why they are so  
important." Three guesses who that was.

The girl bent down, getting closer to the smaller mans  
height, ignoring the last remark. "Well then, why don't you come  
over here and check for yourself?" she purred seductively.

'Hot Dog!' the small man thought giddily. With a simple  
hop, the small man was on his way to the girls chest.

-Bam- The small man crashed into the ground as the girls  
fist crashed into the mans head. 'Damn pervert. Showed him  
who's the boss of this operation' she thought angrily.

---------

"What the . . . ?" Genma asked curiously, looking at the  
TV closer. "Hey, boy! You should come see this!"

"What? What is it?" Ranma asked strolling into the room.

Genma pointed at the TV.

"Is that . . . who I think it is?" There was a loud cracking  
sound before the roof caved in, everyone jumping for cover,  
Pantyhose Tarou's bruised and beaten form landing heavily before  
them. He moo'd pathetically, weakly pushing himself upward. "I'd  
think you'd come for a fight, but from the looks of it, seems  
you've already had one," Ranma commented highly.

---------

Ranma danced in midair around the multiple fireballs  
aimed at him. Rouge's six arms continued to fire until he finally was  
hit in the face. He was hit five more times and driven into the  
ground. He rolled out of the way, as another blast slammed into  
the spot where he just laid.

He pushed himself up into the air and flew at Rouge,  
ramming his head into her stomach. He rolled back away from her  
in the air and fired two ki balls from each of his hands into her. He  
watched as she flew off into the distance, retreating for the  
moment before turning to Pantyhose.

"What the hell did you do to piss her off?"

---------

Ranma and Rouge collided in midair, Rouge's six arms  
punching at Ranma, who amazingly blocked them all. The two  
remained in place, one throwing punches, the other blocking. A fist  
hit Ranma's chest, sending him into the ground, which he bounced  
off of as soon as he touched. He threw a ki blast back on his  
ground rebound, fly to the side at the same time, avoiding another  
of Rouge's attacks. He flew up at her, and they continued their battle in the  
night air. Ranma tossed in his own punches this time, blocking  
those of Rouge's. He took a knee to the gut, three fists to the face,  
and six to his back, sending him back to the earth.

Ranma landed on his feet, and cupped his hands at his side  
immediately, crying out, "Moko Takabisha!"

The blue ball split in two, one half slamming into her  
stomach, the other into the middle of her three heads. His body  
streaked upward and stopped in front of her, shouting out his next  
attack, "Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken!" His fist blurred, hitting  
Rouge's three heads, 300 times, 100 for each head. He 360'd and  
kicked each head with a high kick.

The three heads screamed as Ranma shoved both his fists  
into her stomach and let go a ball of ki, blowing her into the  
ground.

---------

"Okaasan?" Ranma called out to the woman standing in  
front of the grave stone.

His mother turned around slowly, six year old Ranko  
doing so much faster. "Ranma?" she muttered worriedly.

"Shuuto!" Ranko cried running at her older brother. She  
jumped into his arms and was easily lifted into the air and hugged  
tightly but gently.

"God I missed you, Youjo . . ." he whispered, holding her  
close. "You've gotten so big! How old are you now?"

"I'm almost six!" Ranko exclaimed, trying to wrap her  
smaller arms all around Ranma's broad shoulders.

He felt his mother's arms wrap around his waist and pull  
him close from the side. Holding Ranko to him with one arm, he  
placed his other around Nodoka's shoulders, pulling her against  
him. "I told you . . . I promised you I'd come back," he said  
soothingly, choking back his tears.

Ranko was already sobbing into his shoulder. She had  
missed him so much! She didn't ever want to let him go! Not ever!

---------

Ranma screamed as he pushed against the massive fireball,  
nearly 20 by 20 feet in roundness. It burned at his hands, but he  
had to stop it from hitting the mountain, less it wipe out all his  
friends and the Phoenix race. On the other side of the fireball he  
could hear Saffron laughing boldly.

"Foolish, landling! Did you honestly think you could stand  
a match against the full power of the Lord of the Phoenix!" he  
shouted through his laughs.

Sweat poured off Ranma's face in buckets. The intense  
heat of the fireball was starting to break through his auras defense,  
the palms of his hands beginning to burn. He closed his eyes as he  
felt the heels of his feet touch Mt. Phoenix and the ground  
underneath them start to break apart. He managed a brief glance  
to his right where his friends stood, watching transfixed.

The ground under his right leg gave out, forcing him to  
kneel, the fireball now gaining the advantage over him. His eyes  
looked right again.

Ryouga stood, eyes wide, fists clenched at his side. Was  
he an ally? An enemy? Possibly even a friend?

Genma was hunched over, covering his head as if his  
hands would be able to protect him. His father. His sensei. His  
family.

Shampoo and Mousse,. Allies, enemies, with those two he  
could never tell. But they always seemed to be there when he  
needed them.

His sister. Ranko was somewhere in the mountain. They'd  
taken his sister to try and use against him!

He couldn't let them down. He couldn't let them die. He  
couldn't let all the Phoenix people die. He couldn't let anyone die!  
He had to stop it, and stop it now!

Screaming wildly, Ranma pushed as hard as he could  
against the ball, managing to regain his footing on the mountain  
side. A blue aura exploded around his body, and rushed forward  
to the palms of his hands.

"Saffron!" he yelled over the fury of the fireball, "This isn't  
over! Moko Takabisha Double!"

Two bowling ball sized blasts of gold ki shot against the  
fireball, pushing it back into the air and straight back at Saffron.  
The fireball soared faster than before, powered forward by  
Ranma's two Moko Takabisha's, it collided with Saffron's hands,  
knocking the Phoenix King back in midair.

Flapping his wings to help him hold the fireball, Saffron  
laughed unafraid of the danger he was in. "Stupid, landling! I'm the  
Phoenix, from which this fire came from!" So saying, the giant  
fireball began to decrease in size, as it drew itself back into the  
winged Gods hands.

"Not stupid, creative, you winged asshole!" Ranma  
shouted as he appeared right behind Saffron, a ball gold of ki  
overlapping his cupped hands.

Saffron looked over his shoulder just in time to watch in  
horrified fashion as Ranma shot the ball into his back, slamming the  
winged God inside of his own fireball. He managed a short  
screamed before he was fully engulfed.

Hovering backwards, away from the forward moving  
fireball, Ranma shouted, "And hears the knock out!" before  
clenching his right fist. The two balls of gold ki that had been  
pushing the fireball suddenly sunk into its depths. A second later  
the massive ball of flame erupted, causing a shockwave through  
the air, knocking back Ranma and rocking against the mountains  
side. Everyone watched was temporarily blinded by the bright  
white light and were forced to look away.

A body fell from it all, it twisted and flipped in the air, its  
lone wing flapping wildly, attempting to regain balance but unable.  
Saffron smashed into the mountain side, sending gravel and dust  
everywhere.

Ranma remained floating in the air, hovering around the  
mushroom cloud of dirt. The dust cleared quickly, revealing a  
beaten and bloody Saffron, his left wing ripped off. Besides the  
immediate damage to his person, the one winged Phoenix was  
standing, covered in immense flames.

Coughing up a little blood, Saffron gave Ranma a dirty  
look. "You'll DIE for that, landling!" So saying, he screamed loudly  
as his left wing regrew to its full and normal length. "I am the  
Phoenix, from my ashes I will always rise again!"

"Well that's handy," Ranma said condescendingly, arms  
crossed over his chest.

Saffron pushed off from the ground, his powerful wings  
giving him and added boost. Before Ranma could react in time,  
Saffron's fist was shoved into his stomach. He was punched and  
slashed across the face by Saffron other hand.

Hovering away from Saffron, Ranma placed a hand over  
his face. He looked at Saffron arrogantly, and removed his hand,  
his face completely healed. "That the best you got in hand-to-hand  
combat, Saffron? You might as well just stick with your fireballs."

Saffron screamed and threw a small fireball at Ranma.

Ranma leapfrogged over it, spinning around in midair and  
tossing a gold ki ball back at Saffron.

Saffron swatted it aside with his wing before shooting two  
fireballs out of the palms of his hands.

Ranma caught them both and raised his arms, letting them  
fly skyward, where they'd do no harm.

Saffron's fist collided with Ranma's face.

The heel of Ranma's foot smashed into Saffron's chin.

The two abruptly began throwing punches and kicks at  
one another, their forms blurring to the naked eye. The occasional  
punch or kick would get through, one of the two fighters pausing  
briefly to let their body flow with the contact so that they might be  
able to counter easier. It ended when one of Ranma's punches,  
filled with ki, smashed into the side of Saffron's head, exploding  
on contact.

The Phoenix God was tossed to the side before spreading  
his wings to stop himself in midair. He screamed as Ranma's foot  
crashed into his jaw. He turned away from the blow and spun  
around, smacking Ranma with his wing, and letting a fireball go  
right into the pigtailed boys chest.

Ranma screamed as he felt his chest burning. He quickly  
flew higher up, hand on his chest, his red shirt burnt open. Before  
he could do anything else, Saffron appeared behind him and  
placed both his hands on Ranma's shoulders. Ranma threw his  
body backwards, managing to kick Saffron in his chin, but  
exposed his chest for an easy attack.

One that Saffron didn't pass up on. "DIE, LANDLING!"  
he screamed as he pressed the palms of his hands on Ranma's  
chest and began firing fireballs into him.

Ranma soared downward, followed by numerous fireballs.  
His body crashed heavily into the mountain side moments before  
fireball after fireball slammed into his body. He screamed as he felt  
his body burning up underneath the pressure of the fiery orbs.

Over the fury of the fireballs, Ranma heard a voice faintly  
shout, "Shishi Hokou Dan!"

The fireballs stopped a second later and Ranma took what  
seemed like the biggest breath of air he had ever taken. He rolled  
out of his body shaped crater, and pushed himself to his hands and  
knees. Looking to his side, he watched as Saffron swung Ryouga  
around like a rag down, holding on to the fanged boys arm and  
slamming him into the ground.

"SAFFRON!" Ranma roared, catching the attention of  
the wing man, "First you kidnap my sister! And now you're  
attacking my friends!"

Saffron tossed Ryouga's limp body to the side, where it  
landed with a heavy 'thud'. "What're you going to do about it,  
fool!"

Digging his right foot in the ground, Ranma pushed  
forward, launching himself at Saffron. He glided across the  
mountain side so fast that when his fist hit Saffron in the face, the  
Phoenix was utterly caught off guard. Ranma knee found Saffron's  
stomach, followed by his elbow on the back of Saffron's head.

Saffron was thrown back as Ranma's foot caught him in  
the face. The Phoenix rolled to his feet, pumped his wings and  
took the air. "DIE!" he thundered, creating another giant fireball  
above his head with both his hands.

Cupping his hands down at his side, Ranma let began  
gathering as much ki from inside him as he could. He had to win.  
He couldn't lose, not to Saffron. Saffron would end up killing them  
all. He would win! For his friends, his family, but most of all  
Ranko. The ball in his hands grew three times larger. "You first!"  
he screamed, before launching his ball of ki, "Perfect Moko  
Takabisha!"

As the blue ball flew forward, it expanded even larger than  
before, now twice the size of its wielder. Noticing the ball of ki  
heading straight for him for the first time, Saffron hurriedly threw  
his fireball back at it. His ball was engulfed by the much larger one,  
and did little to slow it down.

"No!" Saffron screamed, now throwing fireball after  
fireball into the incoming blue ball. The ball slowly began to grow  
in mass, and instead of moving toward Saffron, started to fall  
slowly back toward the mountain.

Ranma watched in horror as the ball dropped back  
toward him. He'd used just about all of his strength and ki in that  
final attack and now it was heading back at him. 'Stupid! Now  
what am I gonna do!' he thought angrily to himself.

He slowly pushed himself to his feet and looked at the  
falling blue mass. 'I guess I gotta draw it all back in when it hits . .  
. even though that'll probably blow me up from the inside,' he  
thought with a dry chuckle.

"Shishi Hokou Dan!" was cried weakly, a small green  
blast soon after smashing the falling blue one.

Ranma looked over quickly, noticing Ryouga standing  
tiredly on his own two feet. 'He hasn't given up yet!' Ranma  
thought, his confidence rising, 'Why the hell should I then!'

"Shishi Hokou Dan!" Another green ball slammed into the  
blue one.

Building up as much ki as he could, Ranma flew up at the  
ball and slammed his elbow into it. He could hear Saffron laughing  
again, thinking he'd won once again. "Alright you egotistical  
bastard, lets see you handle this!" he whispered to himself.

Another, much smaller green ball pressed against the blue  
one, adding to its size, and pushing it up slightly. But that was all  
Ryouga could handle, as Ranma watched him collapse  
unconscious.

Ranma screamed with such anger that the ball moved  
back a little more. His elbow continued to press against the ball,  
forcing it back little by little. Finally he got an advantage over the  
ball of ki against his elbow. His arm stretched out, slamming the  
ball back toward Saffron.

The ball moved faster than before, crashing into Saffron's  
unprepared body. The Phoenix God cried out as pain drove its  
way through every nerve in his body. He felt both his wings tear  
off and disintegrate.

Ranma backed away from the ball for a moment before  
flying straight into it.

Saffron screaming was silenced as he felt a fist, then half  
an arm rip through his stomach. The blue around him and Ranma  
began to diminish, drawing itself into Ranma's body. Soon enough,  
the whole ball of ki was inside Ranma, looking for an exit.

"Moko Takabisha Kamikaze Revised!" Ranma shouted,  
pumping all of the ki inside of him into Saffron.

There was a scream. Then an explosion. And then it was  
over.

---------

A couple weeks later:

"How's the shirt coming, Kasumi?" Ranma asked as he  
continued his pushups.

"Almost done," she replied, smiling sweetly as she  
embroidered a golden dragon onto the front of one of Ranma's  
shirts, sitting on his back while doing so. "You think you could do  
your pushups a little smoother?"

"Sure thing, Kasumi," Ranma said, grinning as he slowed  
his pace so it'd be a smoother ride.

"Ranma!" Nabiki shouted as she rushed into the dojo.  
"You have to see what's on tv!"

Stopping in the middle of a pushup, Ranma looked up at  
Nabiki, "What's going on?"

"Apparently these people are gonna fight for the world!"  
Nabiki exclaimed and ran back into the house.

He stood up, Kasumi doing the same as he did, and the  
two walked back into the house, and into the living room where  
the tv was on and everyone was sitting around watching. He stood  
next to the couch and looked at the tv.

The tv panned over six people. There was one who  
looked like a normal human, though his face was slightly scarred,  
and his black hair was tied into a ponytail. Next to him was a taller  
man, completely bald and what looked like a third eye in the  
middle of his forehead. Then there was a smaller guy, also bald,  
just coming up to the waist of the other bald man. After the small  
man, there was an even smaller looking . . . person, if someone  
could call him that. It looked like a little kid, his face painted white  
with two red circles on his cheeks.

Everyone in the room gasped as the next person was  
shown on screen. He was the tallest of them all, and green with  
long, pointed ears. He wore a white cloak and turban on his head.

"Wha-what is that?" Akane asked, he body shaking  
nervously.

Ranma's eyes widened when the last figured was shown.  
A little boy, maybe six or seven, was wearing a purple gi with a  
white bandana, but that wasn't all that he had.

"Is that a tail!" Nabiki gasped in disbelief.

"Oh my! I think it is!" Kasumi added.

Ranma looked down at his own tail and wondered to  
himself if there was a connection. There has to be!

"Oh my!"

Ranma looked quickly at the tv as it focused in on two  
other figures. One was fairly short, his black hair sticking up, and  
spiked. He wore strange blue armor, that somewhat looked like  
spandex. He too had a tail wrapped around his waist. The man  
beside him was nearly twice as tall as the first, bald, and covered  
in nothing but muscles. He wore similar armor to that of his smaller  
companion. A tail was wrapped securely around his waist as well.

"If you've just tuning in," the news caster announced as  
the camera continued to pan over all the fighters present, "it has  
been reported that these two," the camera stopped on the massive  
bald man and the short spiky haired man, "are the ones  
responsible for the destruction, and devastation of Salt City earlier  
this morning. Apparently they are challenging these six," the  
camera panned across the other six, "as representatives of Earth.  
They are our only hope. The only ones brave enough to stand up  
to this menace."

Ranma had heard enough. Turning to Kasumi, he asked  
quickly, "You finished my shirt?"

"Just . . . finishing . . . finished!" she exclaimed cheerfully,  
holding up his red shirt, now embroidered with a golden dragon.

Snatching the shirt out of Kasumi's hand, Ranma quickly  
took off the one he was currently wearing and slipped on the  
newly remade one.

"Where are you going, Ranma?" Nodoka exclaimed as  
Ranma rushed toward the front door.

"I'm not about to let them fight those guys on their own!  
And look, they've got tails. They might be able to explain what  
this," he wagged his tail, "is!"

"Well be careful, Ranma!" Nodoka shouted, "I don't want  
to lose you right after I got you back again!"

"Don't worry mom, with me there, how can we lose!" he  
shouted back as he jumped into the air, a gold aura exploding  
around him before he flew off into the distance at an incredible  
speed.

Ranko stared at where her brother had just flown away.  
"Come on, Ranko," she heard her mother say, "lets watch the tv  
and wait for your brother to show up."

-----------

Next Time: Earth's New Hope! Ranma vs Nappa!  
It's Ranma versus Nappa. David versus Goliath. Can Ranma  
rewrite Kami-sama's proposed fate and save Piccolo, or will the  
Namekian still fall. And what will Vegeta's reaction be to another  
Saiya-jin who isn't Kakarotto?

Authors Notes: Well, after forever, I finished this chapter  
but I did. Something's are different, as you have read, and some  
of you might be wondering why I let him have the Neko-ken and  
the curse. As well as a sister. Well, those are my own reasons.  
And no, there will be no incest in this fic!  
http/


	3. Chapter 2: Earth's New Hope!

﻿Disclaimer: I wish I owned these two series. Takakashi-san and  
Toriyama-san retain those rights. Those lucky bas . . . .  
*Incoherent muttering*

A True Saiya-jin  
A Ranma ½/ Dragon Ball Z Crossover  
By Hawk

Note: And so it begins... finally... lol

Chapter 2 - Earth's New Hope! Ranma vs Nappa!

The Tendo and Saotome families crowded around the tv,  
watching as green men grew from the Earth. They watched three  
of the fighters die. The man with the scars on his face blowing up.  
The small child with a white face doing a kamikaze attack. The  
man with three eyes dying of exhaustion.

The three other fighters struggled to do anything  
permanent to the giant man. Their movements were occasional  
blurs across the screen and it seemed as if firing Ki blasts wasn't  
something new to them.

After a small bout of fighting, they stopped and stood a  
distance away from each other, talking at a distance. Their words  
went unheard. The short man with the tall spiky hair sat down on a  
nearby rock.

Time went by and nothing happened. The cameramen  
took this time to show close ups of the young boys face as tears  
rolled down his face. The tall green man had turned his back on  
the boy, appearing to be extremely pissed off. The shorter bald  
man was trying to console the young boy.

All the while, the massive bald man was continuously  
twitching and moving around, very antsy about doing nothing. He  
turned to the smaller man and started yelling. The smaller man  
seemed to consent and the camera followed the larger man as he  
floated into the air.

Then everyone on the tv stopped.

"Ranma's there. . ." Ranko whispered.

*********

"Who's a pussy?" Ranma asked, shouting down at Nappa.

Nappa growled loudly as he pushed himself out of his own  
crater. He was going to grab that irritable little punk around the  
neck and tear him in two.

Laughing once to himself, Ranma unceremoniously let  
himself drop from the sky, his shoes touching the ground with a  
soft tap. He slid the green bean into his shirt for safe keeping  
before crossing his arms and grinning.

"You God damn ass! I'm gonna kill you!" Nappa  
screamed, bending at the knees, preparing to lunge.

"Nappa! You damn retard!" Vegeta shouted angrily, arms  
thrown behind him in frustration. "Take a closer look before you  
start attacking!"

"Huh?" Nappa grunted, looking back at Vegeta then to  
Ranma. "What're you talking about . . ." he trailed off as e finally  
noticed what everyone else was staring at. "He's a Saiya-jin!"

Piccolo's eyes narrowed. "This is something that we really  
didn't need."

"I thought those two and Goku were the only remaining  
Saiya-jins . . ." Krillin whispered, his voice full of shock and awe.

Gohan swallowed loudly. "Is he on our side? Is he one of  
daddy's friends? He did just attack that big guy," he pointed out,  
praying to Kami that the newcomer was indeed on their side.

"Lets hope he is, Gohan . . ." Krillin responded quietly.

"Who the fuck are you!?" Vegeta demanded harshly,  
expecting the answer immediately. He was after all, the Prince of  
all Saiya-jins. All four of them, that is.

"Yeah! Who the fuck do you think you are!?" Nappa  
added angrily, his ki flaring for a moment.

Ranma sniffed once in disdain, turning his head from the  
other Saiya-jins and to the last remaining Z fighters. *What the hell  
kinda screwed up fight is this anyway . . .* he thought as he  
looked over the tall green fighter, followed by the small bald one  
then the six year-old child.

"You'll answer Vegeta's question or I'll make you!"  
Nappa thundered, his face flushing crimson with anger.

Ignoring the overly muscled man's outburst, Ranma turned  
to the short one with his hair sticking straight up. His black  
eyebrow raised in curiosity. *And just how much gel does that guy  
have to use . . .?*

"What're you looking at?" Vegeta asked dangerously.

"You . . ." Ranma said slowly, walking up to the smaller  
man. "What are you?"

"What the hell kinda question is that?" Vegeta retorted.

"What. Are. You. I want to know what you are. What's  
the tail thing?" Ranma asked slowly, almost mockingly.

"What a fucking stupid question!" Nappa raged from the  
side. "How can you not know what you are! You're a Saiya-jin,  
fool!"

"Shut up, Nappa! Remember Kakarott! He didn't know  
what he was until Radditz told him!" Vegeta shouted back at  
Nappa before turning to the pigtailed boy once again. "You don't  
know what you are?"

"I know I can't be all human . . ." he looked at Nappa  
curiously. "Apparently I'm part . . . Saiya-jin?"

"You're not Saiya-jin. You are _a_ Saiya-jin," Vegeta  
replied sternly, as if answering a restless child.

"I'm a Saiya-jin? What the hell is a Saiya-jin?" Ranma  
exclaimed, mystified at the mumbo jumbo the short Saiya-jin  
Prince was saying.

Nappa growled at the stupidity of the boy. "The Saiya-jin  
race is the strongest race there is, fool! Our kind conquers planets  
with passing ease! _That_ is who we are."

"Doesn't say much about your kind . . ." Ranma replied  
slowly and pitifully.

Vegeta took a step forward, Ranma following in foot.  
Soon enough they were standing directly in front of one another.  
Small crackles of ki danced across their chest, occasionally  
pushing against the others.

"We're the strongest race that exists. With every passing  
battle we grow stronger, faster, keener!" Vegeta rumbled quietly,  
"We. You, Nappa," he pointed at Nappa, "Kakarott, and I are  
the last remaining Saiya-jins. The last of a dying race."

"We're goin' extinct, eh? Great . . . So who the fuck does  
all this make you? Our King?" Ranma asked the troll doll haired  
man sarcastically.

Vegeta's eyes narrowed. "I am Vegeta, Prince of all  
Saiya-jins."

Ranma's eyes widened. "Really? Wow! Prince of what?  
Four people? That's soooooo coool!" he shouted in mock glee,  
hand planted on the sides of his face, shaking his head back and  
forth.

Krillin and Gohan laughed to themselves at the sight,  
enjoying it immensely while they could.

Vegeta was about to speak but Nappa beat him to it.  
"Hey, you little shithole! You can't speak to Vegeta that way!" He  
lunged forward, arm pulled back, fist curled.

"Nappa . . ." Vegeta growled to himself, but made no  
motion to move.

His fist came down, tearing into the spot where Ranma  
had been standing. He growled as his massive fist only connected  
with gravel, tossing it everywhere.

Vegeta remained where he was, his ki disintegrating or  
blocking any gravel that came toward him. His eyes narrowed  
even more, his frown becoming deeper.

Nappa's ki flared around, as his scream of anger sounded  
loudly in everyone's ears. The ground exploded around his buried  
fist before he did a 180o, looking for the boy.

"It's a man like him!" Everyone looked up to the sky, at  
the point the voice was coming from. "That shows me exactly  
what kinda people we Saiya-jin are." Ranma slowly floated back  
down to the ground, landing lightly, arms crossed once again.

"That is why, I won't be joining you. My name's Saotome  
Ranma, I'd decided before I'd even gotten here that I was gonna  
fight against you. My family lives here as well as my friends. You  
don't own this _planet_ and at the end of the day . . . you still  
won't."

Piccolo and Krillin nodded, eyes narrowing. They still had  
a chance.

"What!?" Vegeta and Nappa roared simultaneously.

"You didn't really _think_ I was gonna automatically bow  
down to you after you called yourself a Prince did you?" Ranma  
exclaimed with a laugh. "You've gotta be kiddin' me!" He glided  
backwards, skimming across the ground until he stop next to  
Piccolo, standing a full foot less than the green alien. "What the hell  
are you? Don't you think it's a little earlier for Halloween?"

Despite his anger, Vegeta felt compelled to answer having  
realized just minutes before Ranma's arrival what "Piccolo" as  
they called him, was. "He's a Namekian."

"What?"

"Huh?"

"Namekian. . .?" Piccolo mumbled.

"From the planet Namek! Don't tell me you didn't know  
that?"

Piccolo said nothing.

"Does no one on this planet know where they're from?"  
Vegeta exclaimed in frustration. "There's a legend that on Namek  
there are magical balls that will grant you any wish and it came to  
me. Since these Dragon Balls on Earth grant wishes just like the  
legendary ones on Namek. . . and here we have a Namek on  
Earth, then the balls on Namek must exist as well."

"So . . . what?" Nappa stared at him dumbly.

"In other words. . ," Vegeta sneered at the others. "You can  
kill them all."

*********

On the screen Ranma was talking to Vegeta pointedly,  
face to face. What they were saying couldn't be heard, but it was  
apparently pissing off the large, bald man. Sweat dropped from  
the side of every head in the Tendo house when Ranma clearly  
started to making fun of the who he was talking to.

The bald man moved and his fist was instantly where  
Ranma had been standing. Ranko screamed and everyone else  
gasped and tightly clutched anything they could get their hands on.

The camera zoomed out to show Ranma hovering in the  
air, arms crossed over his chest, speaking down at the short man  
again.

"What is Shuuto doing?" Ranko asked nervously.

Genma grumbled.

Ranma dropped to the ground and slid backwards,  
stopping beside the tall, green man.

The short man with spiky hair began talking to everyone,  
most of all the green man. He stopped talking and looked at his  
massive companion.

Everyone in the house could read his lips.

The large man cracked his knuckles and charged the  
others.

*********

"Split up!" Ranma cried.

Gohan and Krillin jumped to the sides, while Piccolo  
jumped into the air. Ranma glided backwards, dodging Nappa's  
fist as it tore through where they'd all just been standing.

Nappa stopped and looked around. "Who should I kill  
first . . .?" He looked at Ranma, then Piccolo, Krillin and finally  
Gohan. His grin widened and he charged again.

Piccolo screamed and moved to help.

Gohan stared wide eyed before being shoved roughly to  
the side. He looked up to see Ranma standing where he'd just  
been.

"You're mine!" Ranma cried before dodging a punch from  
Nappa. "You're also slow!" His fist collided with Nappa's nose.  
"Trying to fight a kid! What kinda coward are you? Fight someone  
your own size! Or . . . half your size at least."

"Fine! I'll kill you first, and then finish off the others, and  
then Kakkarott!"

"Enough talk, not enough fighting!" Ranma exclaimed,  
jumping at Nappa.

The two began exchanging blows. Their fists blurred at  
one another, knees moving up to block, kicks colliding at the shin.  
The two broke apart, and Nappa quickly hurled a ball of ki at  
Ranma.

Ranma rolled around the ball, cupping it and guiding it  
upward. The ball flew harmlessly into the air.

Nappa's fist embedded itself in Ranma's gut. His head  
smashed into Ranma's. Grabbing his leg, Nappa swung the other  
Saiya-Jin around and threw him down toward the ground.

Flipping over in midair, Ranma bounced off the ground  
and launched himself back at Nappa. He fired two balls of ki at  
Nappa which he easily block. Ranma's knee slammed into  
Nappa's face. Flipping over Nappa's head, and twisted around  
to face the behemoth's back, he punched at it with near  
Amaguriken speed, making the armor crack. Ducking under  
Nappa's arm as the man spun around, Ranma sunk back to the  
ground.

Ranma stopped and looked up at Nappa. "You're too  
slow for me."

Nappa's anger began to grow. "I'm not too slow, damn  
you!"

"He could beat Nappa," Gohan said to Krillin, the two of  
them standing beside each other now while Piccolo stood off to  
the side.

Nappa flew down at Ranma, who remained where he  
was. Again, Nappa's fist hit nothing but dirt, as Ranma jumped  
back at the last moment.

Ranma shook his head, and stuck out his tongue. "Too  
slow!" He kicked Nappa in the face, making the larger Saiya-jin  
reel back. His fist rammed into Nappa's gut, making him bend  
over. Raising his arms above his head, Ranma clenched his hands  
together and brought them down on the back of Nappa's head  
sending the mans head first into the ground.

Nappa laughed as he pulled his head out of the ground.  
"You maybe faster than I am, but I'm by far stronger!"

Caught by surprise, Ranma was unable to fully block  
Nappa's punch. The pigtailed Saiya-jin slid backward, his heels  
digging into the ground and dragging up dirt. He stopped and  
dropped to one of his knees, covering his stomach. Coughing  
once, Ranma wiped the little bit of spittle off his lips. "Damn, that  
is strong."

Nappa charged Ranma again. "Now you die!"

Ranma grunted as he dodged Nappa's attacks. 'The  
punch to my stomach really slowed me down,' Ranma thought  
before Nappa's hand enclosed on his head. He was slammed into  
the ground face first.

Nappa filled his hand, that was holding Ranma's head,  
with ki and fired. Nappa's ki engulfed all of Ranma. He blinked  
when he found Ranma still in one piece, and still in his hand.

Ranma felt himself lifted off the ground by Nappa and held  
off the ground. He dangled limply, seemingly dead. He was tossed  
to the side, and landed hard on his right arm.

Nappa turned to Gohan, Krillin and Piccolo. "So who's  
next?"

"Get ready," Piccolo rumbled.

"Hey tall, bald, and ugly . . . I'm not done with you yet!"  
Ranma groaned as his pushed himself to his feet. "You and I aren't  
finished!"

Nappa marched over to Ranma, making sure that his  
boots crushed the rocks under his feet into dust. "Talk about  
pathetic!"

Ranma was lifted off the ground and tossed into the air. A  
ball of ki slammed into his stomach and exploded, launching him  
farther away. He crashed through a tree and landed hard on his  
back. "This isn't working out quite how I planned. . ."

Nappa turned again to the three remaining protectors of  
Earth. "Where was I?"

Piccolo charged, and exchanged blows with Nappa.  
Krillin followed and attacked Nappa as well. Gohan stayed  
behind, breathing heavily, trying to work up his courage.

"Gohan! Help us!" Piccolo screamed.

Gohan did the only thing he thought that would help them  
at that time. He ran away to find their Saiya-jin ally.

Ranma groaned and tried to push himself to his feet. He  
heard someone running toward him, but knew it wasn't Nappa.  
The footsteps were too soft. Looking up, he saw the kid coming  
toward him.

Gohan knelt beside the older boy. "Are you alright?"

"Why're you here? How come you're not fighting with the  
others?" Ranma asked.

"I'm no good at fighting," Gohan explained as he helped  
Ranma to his feet. "What's your name?"

"Ranma."

"I'm Gohan." He offered his hand, which Ranma ignored.

"That's great, now that we're introduced, I think you  
should go help your friends," Ranma grunted.

"I told you, I'm no good at fighting," Gohan replied,  
frowning.

"You're wrong. I can feel a lot of energy buried deep  
inside of you. Also the way you hold yourself. I can tell you have  
some training. Your friends need your help, I don't. Go help  
them," Ranma said, pushing Gohan away.

"O-ok. . ." Gohan said before turning and running towards  
where Piccolo and Krillin were taking a beating from Nappa.

"Be careful, kid!" Ranma called before slumping back to  
the ground. "It's times like this that I wished I'd gone through the  
Bakusai Tenketsu training. . ."

He looked at the fallen tree beside him. "I'm sorry. . . but  
I need your help," he said, placing his hand on its side.

Krillin crashed into the ground and groaned. "Don't . . .  
think I can help anymore. . ."

Piccolo panted, sweat running down his face. He was  
already getting tired and it had been only a couple minutes since  
their Saiya-Jin ally had gone down.

"Ready to die, Namekian?"

"Go to hell," Piccolo mumbled.

Nappa strode toward Piccolo calmly.

"Your fight's with me now!" Gohan cried as he ran toward  
Nappa.

"S. . . something really bad. . . is about to happen. . . an' I  
can't. . . move. . . can't stop it. . ." Krillin muttered from where he  
lay, trying hard to push himself to his feet, but to no avail.

"So the little lad's going to hold me, eh? What a joke!"  
Nappa shouted, turning to Gohan.

"Gohan!" Piccolo screamed, chasing after Nappa.

Gohan jumped and kicked Nappa in the face. His leg was  
grabbed by Nappa and he was easily tossed aside.

"Don't even bother trying, runt!"

Gohan crawled back to his feet and charged Nappa again.  
'Daddy and Mr. Piccolo can fight! Why can't I fight like them!'  
Gohan thought, punching at Nappa's chest.

Nappa swatted him aside. "You're worthless. A waste of  
Saiya-jin blood." He raised his hand. "You die first."

Nappa yelled as he was shot in the back and stumbled  
forward, hands hovering over his burnt back. "You bastard!" He  
turned to face Piccolo before being kicked in the back of the head  
by Gohan and sent flying, crashing into, and exploding yet another  
boulder.

Gohan fell to the ground, landing on his stomach and  
glancing to where his opponent had crashed.

Nappa zoomed out of the rubble, landing a bit away from  
the two, bleeding from the top of his head, and gritting his teeth.  
"NOW. . . I'VE HAD ENOUGH!" he cried, looking at Gohan.

He pulled back his arm, filling it with ki. "DIE!" He fired  
the massive attack.

Gohan shook his head and pushed himself up just in  
time to see a wall of ki tearing toward him. His eyes widened as  
Piccolo stepped in front of him, taking the full force of the ki blast.

Piccolo and Gohan both screamed. The Namekian's skin  
began to rip off his body, his flesh boiling and blistering. The ki  
blast from Nappa ended, and Piccolo collapsed.

"G-Go. . .han. . . run. . ."

Gohan crawled toward Piccolo. "M. . . Mr. . . Piccolo?  
Are you alright? Why did you save me. . .?"

"I told you . . . to run. . ." The Namekian chuckled. "Oh  
the shame. . . Piccolo, the great. . . incorruptible evil. . . saving a  
child." He coughed up some blood. "How pathetic. . .

"You and your dad. . . and your damn. . . softness. . .  
infecting me. . . but. . . you know, boy. . . you were the only one. .  
. who ever. . . ever really talked to me. . ."

Piccolo coughed and met Gohan's eyes. He smiled.  
"Thank you, Gohan. . . you're what I was missing in my life. .  
.Gohan. . . don't die. . ." And then he died.

*********

"Mr. Popo. . . I leave the rest. . . to you. . ."

Up on Kami's lookout, Popo cried out as Kami  
disappeared before his eyes. The Dragonballs were gone, and  
Goku was still a good hour away. The Earth was doomed.

*********

Gohan shook Piccolo's dead body, trying to wake him.

"What an idiot! I can't believe he just did that!" Nappa  
exclaimed, laughing loud and raunchily.

"Shut up!" Gohan screamed.

"Stupid Namekian. Sacrificing himself like that for a  
worthless runt like you!"

"I. . . said. . . shut. . . UP!!!!" Gohan cried, his ki  
exploding around him.

Vegeta stood up, his Scouter going crazy. "Nappa! Be  
careful! The boys power level is rising rapidly!"

Nappa turned to look at Vegeta. "Huh?" He looked back  
at Gohan. "Good! Show me what you got, runt!"

Gohan charged Nappa, jumping up and kicking him  
across the face.

Nappa flew backwards, crashing into the ground and  
tumbling heavily for a good twenty yards, his cheek newly bruised.

Gohan dropped to his knees, tired out, energy completely  
gone.

"That's it? That's all you've got? I was right, you are a  
waste of Saiya-jin blood." Nappa walked up to Gohan and lifted  
his foot. "I can't wait to see the look on Kakkarott's face when he  
finds his son smashed on the bottom of my boot!"

A blur smashed into his raised leg, knocking him off  
balance. Nappa stumbled and fell onto his back.

Ranma was standing with his arm outstretch, hand where  
Nappa's knee had just been. He turned to look at Gohan. "You  
alright, kid?"

Gohan nodded weakly.

Ranma nodded back and turned to Nappa. "Alright, big  
guy, it's round 2!"

Nappa hopped to his feet. He turned his head, opened his  
mouth and fired a stream of ki at Ranma.

Ranma's feet dug into the ground as he held off the blast.  
He staggered and fell backwards, landing on his back. The beam  
of ki continued past him, skimming over his chest. When the ki  
stopped, Ranma flipped to his feet and flung two balls of his own  
ki at Nappa.

Nappa blocked them both before Ranma's fist slammed  
into his face. The two leapt into the air, their arms and legs nothing  
but blurs. They spun around as if in a slow dance, trying to kill  
one another. Knuckles collided with knuckles, knees with knees,  
shins to shins. They broke apart as Ranma head butted Nappa's  
nose, successfully breaking it.

"God damnit!" Nappa screamed while covering his nose.

"Be careful, Nappa! His power level is rising! He's over  
2000!"

"Over 2000?!"

"And rising!"

Nappa turned his head in time to see the palm of Ranma's  
hand in front of his face. It was pulsing with a light green ki.  
"Here's ki in your eye!"

Nappa screamed as he was shot in the face, effectively  
blinding him momentarily. He flew backwards, rubbing at his eyes.  
His back hit a massive rock, lodging him in its side.

Ranma flew after him and slammed his fist into Nappa's  
gut. "Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken!" His fists hit Nappa's stomach  
three times by the naked eye. In truth he had just punched Nappa  
300 times.

Nappa groaned and swung blindly, trying to knock Ranma  
away. His other arm went to cover his aching stomach.

Ranma hovered back to the ground, purposely landing in a  
small spot of grass and weeds.

Vegeta pushed the button on the side of his Scouter.  
"3500. . ." he muttered.

Ranma lowered his hands down to his sides and closed his  
eyes, whispering something that no one could hear. The grass and  
weeds began to rustle.

Nappa shook his head, and blinked his eyes as they  
started to clear. He noticed Ranma standing, eyes closed and saw  
a chance. Fist pulled back, Nappa flew straight for him.

As before, Ranma was gone when Nappa's fist tore  
through the grass, sending dirt everywhere. Growling, the massive  
alien looked around for his opponent.

Ranma appeared beside Gohan, hands in his pockets. He  
looked the young half-Saiya-jin over, noticing that he was  
breathing a little better than before. "Hey, kid, Gohan right? You  
doing better?"

Gohan nodded, stunned at how fast Ranma had just  
moved. He spared a glance over in Krillin's direction, seeing  
that he was still on the ground, though attempting to push himself  
to his feet.

"Good, cause I need to ask a favor of you," Ranma  
explained, cooly as Nappa stomped towards them.

"Wha-what?" Gohan asked, eyeing their approaching  
enemy.

"I need you to distract him for a minute? Think you  
can do that? I've got a plan."

"I-I don't think I could last ten seconds against this guy!"  
Gohan exclaimed, as Nappa began running at them.

Ranma smacked Gohan on the back, effectively pushing  
the half-Saiya-Jin toward Nappa. "I knew I could count on you,"  
he replied, jumping into the air and flying out of sight.

Nappa stopped in his tracks, looking as utterly confused  
as Gohan. When the two fights eyes met, Nappa immediately  
grinned. "Looks like you're ALL alone now, runt. No one to jump  
in front of a blast for you, or save you from being stepped on.  
You're all mine. . ."

Taking up a defensive stance, Gohan glared back at  
Nappa.

Nappa laughed, "Are you kidding me? You're even  
bothering to try and defend yourself? You wouldn't even last a  
minute against me, now that that fool has run away."

"He'll be back! He's not afraid of you, and neither am I!"  
Gohan shouted and launched himself at Nappa.

Nappa grinned as Gohan closed the distance between  
them and lifted his fist. He moved to bring his fist down on the  
offending half-breed, but was surprised when the runt stopped  
short and shot up into the air. Nappa's eyes followed Gohan's  
abrupt upward flight.

"Kienzan!"

Nappa looked to his side, seeing a yellow disk of ki  
speeding towards him, having just been thrown by Krillin. "Eh?  
Hah! Parlor tricks!" he shouted and braced himself to catch the  
spinning attack.

"Nappa--- DUCK!" Vegeta hollered.

Doing what he was told, Nappa's barely managed to  
avoid the disk, his cheek being cut open, a line of blood  
immediately seeping out.

"Damn. . ." Krillin muttered, panting heavily, nearly falling  
over from exertion.

"Use your head, idiot!" Vegeta shouted, annoyed.

Nappa growled, eyeing the blood on his cheek. Turning  
his look to Krillin, he let his ki flame up around him. "You . . .  
little.  
. . shit! You cut me!" He leapt toward Krillin, fist pulled back and  
flaming with ki. "I'm really gonna enjoy this!" he screamed.

Before he could get his attack off, Gohan's foot slammed  
into the back of his head, smashing him face first into the ground.  
Jumping away, Gohan sped toward Krillin, grabbing the small  
man by his arms, lifting him off the ground and into the air before  
flying behind a large pile of rocks.

Gohan set Krillin on the ground, and landed beside him.  
Gohan let out a breath, "Are you alright, Krillin?"

"Better than I would've been had you not stepped on his  
head," Krillin replied with a grin, before frowning. "Where'd that  
guy go? Did he actually run away?"

"No, he-"

"WHERE ARE YOU?" Nappa's scream cut-off Gohan's  
reply.

The two small fighters glanced in the direction Nappa was  
in, glad to be hidden behind the rock.

"Vegeta, where are they?" they heard him shout.

"I don't know Nappa, I didn't see where they went," the  
Saiya-Jin Prince replied coolly.

Gohan exchanged a look with Krillin. He was sure that  
Vegeta must have seen their escape. Why would the other Saiya-  
Jin help them?

"Well use your scouter then!"

"You dare to give me an order, Nappa?" Vegeta snarled.  
"Find them yourself!"

"Vegeta!" Nappa whined.

Gohan turned back to Krillin, "He said he'd be back, but I  
have to distract that monster til he comes back."

"Come out, come out, wherever you are!" Nappa  
screamed, before the large rock just to the left of them exploded  
making the two shield their eyes.

"I have to go now, or else he'll find you, and I can't fight  
him and protect you," Gohan stated and started to take off.

Krillin grabbed his foot, stopping him. "You can't fight  
him! He'll kill you!" he exclaimed.

"I have to try, it's what Piccolo would've done," Gohan  
replied and took off, flying into the air.

He looked down and saw Nappa aiming a ball of ki at the  
rocks Krillin was hiding behind.

"Up here!" Gohan shouted, waving his arms.

Nappa looked up immediately, and threw the ball where  
Gohan floated.

Seeing the ball, Gohan flew out of its way, only to be  
kicked in the face by Nappa's massive boot sending him flying  
wildly. As he managed to reorient himself, his back was pounded  
by Nappa's fists, and he soared down, the ground exploding  
around him as he slammed into it.

He vaguely heard Nappa land beside him, before he was  
abruptly pulled by his hair from his body made hole. He hung from  
Nappa's grasp, a trail of blood coming out of his nose as well as  
his mouth. He hurt all over.

"You didn't REALLY think you stood any chance against  
me did you? You might be half-Saiya-Jin, but you're pathetic! Just  
like your father!" Nappa leaned in close to Gohan's face and  
whispered, "He's not coming for you."

"My. . . my father will come," Gohan muttered, "you'll  
see, and then you'll be-"

"No one's coming for you!" Nappa shouted and tossed  
Gohan aside. "Your green friend isn't! Your bald dwarf isn't! Not  
you're three-eyed freak, or his white faced midget! Not your  
spiky haired, blown to hell friend, and least of all, not that  
WANNABE Saiya-Jin COWARD!"

Nappa raised his arm, a massive ball of ki forming in the  
palm of it.

*********

"Where'd Shuuto go, mommy?" Ranko asked anxiously.

Genma grumbled.

"I don't know, Ranko-chan," Nodoka replied, as  
everyone scanned the television for any sign of her son. He had  
disappeared abruptly, and the news casters had begun calling him  
a coward, claiming that he had 'run away'.

"I don't like those tv people, mommy," Ranko muttered,  
crossing her arms. "They're stupid!"

"Don't worry, Ranko-chan, Ranma-kun will show up,"  
Kasumi stated calmly.

"Yeah, he always ends up showing up to save the day,  
and I don't think he'll want to miss out on this opportunity,"  
Nabiki added.

"He better show up. No son of mine is a coward," Genma  
muttered.

They all winced when the youngest fighter was brutally  
beaten and knocked through the air before hit into the ground.

Ranko whimpered, suddenly afraid, and clutched her  
mothers arm. "Shuuto, where ARE you!" she whispered to herself,  
shutting her eyes.

She felt her mother jump slightly, and make a hissing noise,  
and she clutched her arm tighter. The boy had no doubt just been  
hurt again. "Ranma. . ."

"Ranma!"

Ranko quickly looked at the screen and saw her older  
brother back on it, standing in front of the young boy, glowing  
white. The bigger man was standing, surprised and grimacing in  
pain at the same time.

"Shuuto!" Ranko exclaimed, jumping up in her seat.

Genma grumbled before smiling. "Told you my boy was  
no coward," he said more to himself than anyone else.

"Go, Ranma!" Nodoka suddenly cheered, rising from her  
seat, arm lifted in the air.

Gohan looked up from his fallen position, watching the ball  
in Nappa's hand with overwhelming dread. This was it. What  
Nappa had said was true. He was alone, and no one was coming  
to save him. The least he could do was die on his feet.

Slowly, painstakingly, he pushed himself to his knees, then  
to his feet, wobbling unsteadily on his feet. The coppery taste of  
his own blood flooded his mouth and he tried not to swallow or  
gag on it. Instead he spit a large wad of it up, letting a lot of it  
dribble down his chin.

"Brave, boy, maybe you aren't so pathetic of a Saiya-Jin,"  
Nappa said.

Gohan raised his hands in front of him, bracing for the  
upcoming ki blast. He closed his eyes. Then all he felt was a  
massive breeze of air, which knocked him off his feet and onto his  
butt. His hair whipped behind him and he screamed, eyes still shut.

He felt nothing but the wind, and thought 'Is this it? Am I  
dead?'

He opened his eyes, and saw the back of someone,

"Otousan. . .?"

He blinked and saw red. The red of the other Saiya-Jin,  
Ranma's, shirt to be exact. The teen was standing, one arm  
outstretched, having grabbed and twisted Nappa's outstretched  
arm. A large white aura danced around his body, acting as an  
extra shield.

"Sorry, kid, not your dad, but I am here to help, and finish  
this."

The dust around Nappa and Ranma settled. Ranma  
grabbed Nappa's twisted arm with his other hand. He turned, his  
back to Nappa's chest, bringing the larger Saiya-jin's twisted arm  
in front of him. His elbow rammed back into Nappa's stomach,  
breaking through the armor. Ranma's head rose, crashing into  
Nappa's chin, making the bald man rear back.

Blood gushed from Nappa's mouth, his free arm flailing at  
his side. The bald Saiya-Jin grunted as Ranma fell to the ground,  
still clutching his right arm, and slid through Nappa's open legs.

Ranma grinned as he snaked between Nappa's legs on his  
stomach, pulling the arm along with him. Nappa flipped forward,  
his body trying to follow his arm, and landed heavily on his back,  
blood still flowing from his shouting mouth.

Pushing himself to his feet, Ranma kicked Nappa across  
the face, breaking the Saiya-jin's nose in another direction, and  
making his neck crack. He jumped away as Nappa swung a fist  
covered in flame ki at him.

"Idiot, you totally forgot about me. Left yourself wide  
open for an attack," Ranma explained. "All I did was hide behind  
a couple of rocks and waited."

He turned and looked at Gohan. "You doing ok?"

Gohan nodded weakly.

"Sorry 'bout leaving like that, but I felt my best chance to  
really weaken this guy would be to catch him off guard."

Ranma spared a glance at Vegeta, who merely raised an  
eyebrow in return. The Saiya-jin Prince knew he had been hiding  
and had said nothing. Eyes narrowing, Ranma wondered why  
Vegeta wasn't helping his teammate.

Ranma looked at Nappa. "Those blows you just took  
from me probably just took off a lot of your strength. You're  
nowhere near as strong as you were at the start of this fight."

"You son-of-a-bitch," Nappa growled, climbing back to  
his feet. He spat a wad of blood and saliva onto the ground.  
"Stupid enough to come back here! Think I'm weak! You  
should've stayed away like a coward!"

Ranma crossed his arms over his chest and glared coldly  
at Nappa. "I don't run away, and I'm not afraid of you. This is  
where it ends."

Nappa burst into laughter. "You're fucking kidding me  
right? End this? You really think I'm weaker than you now?  
Earlier, you didn't even stand a chance against me! Yeah, lets end  
this, by me breaking your spine. . ."

"Third times a charm. . ." Ranma muttered to himself.

Nappa turned and looked at Vegeta. "What's the power  
level on this fool?"

"4,000," Vegeta replied, smirking at Nappa. What he  
didn't tell Nappa was that he really had lost a lot of power. Having  
scanned Nappa, Vegeta dully took note that it was only at 3,000.

"4,000! But, that's- no way! He can't be!" Nappa  
screamed and turned to look back at Ranma.

"Why so afraid? I thought I didn't stand a chance against  
you?" Ranma asked before leaping at Nappa, and slugging him  
across the face.

Nappa stumbled to the side and covered his cheek with  
his hand then jumped aside as Ranma followed up with a kick at  
his ribs.

Screaming, Ranma charged Nappa again, and the two  
collided heavily, Ranma's elbow driving into the larger mans gut,  
and knocking him onto his back. He followed up by punching  
Nappa in the chest and stomach over 500 times in the blink of an  
eye.

Nappa swatted at Ranma, making him jump away, but  
was quickly hit by a ball of ki in the head as he started to sit up.  
He pushed himself up, and flew into the air, avoiding another ball.  
Blood was quickly dripping from Nappa's nose and from the  
corners of his mouth. He spit, a couple of his teeth falling out in the  
process.

Ranma slowly rose into the air, arms crossed, a wide  
smirk donning his face. "I'm not even warmed up."

Nappa ran his tongue over his remaining teeth, feeling the  
newly made empty spaces. He grinned back at Ranma, showing  
his now red teeth. "I think you're bluffing," Nappa said and flew  
at Ranma.

Ranma dodged around a blast of ki and fire back one of  
his own, which Nappa easily swatted aside. He grunted as  
Nappa's fist slammed into his left shoulder, spinning him around he  
was kicked in the back and sent flying through the air before  
forcing himself to stop. He ducked and Nappa's fist passed over  
right where his head had just been.

Nappa's eyes widened in shock as Ranma kicked  
backwards, catching him directly in the balls. He gasped, wheezing  
loudly, and covered them protectively. His face turned red, from  
pain and anger, eyes bulging widely. Opening his mouth, Nappa  
fired a powerful stream of ki.

"Moko Takabisha!" Ranma shouted, firing his own right  
back. The two blasts collided right in front of his face and  
exploded massively, sending rock, gravel, and dust everywhere.

From where he lay, Gohan covered his eyes and  
protected his face as best he could.

Vegeta raised an arm to shield his face and muttered, "To  
deflect it. . . at such a close distance. . . unbelievable. . ."

"Phew," Ranma mumbled, "that was fast."

Nappa stared, absolutely amazed and confused. "How. . .  
it. . . it can't be! Th-that was my. . . my ultimate technique! He. . .  
he just bounced it off like it was nothing. . .!"

"That was an impressive attack, but I saw it coming a mile  
away," Ranma replied, and crossed his arms over his chest.  
Though he would never admit it, he hadn't seen the attack coming,  
and it was just instinct that led him to fire his Moko Takabisha. He  
felt the silk of his shirt, find that it had a couple tears in it and  
glared at Nappa. "You ruined my shirt. . . I had it specially made. .  
." he growled, gritting his teeth.

"I'm gonna ruin your FACE!" Nappa screamed and flew  
at Ranma with a flurry of kicks and punches.

Ranma flew backwards, avoiding Nappa's slower attacks  
with practiced ease. "You're no longer stronger than I am." And  
he slammed his open palm into Nappa's cheek, staggering the  
older man to the side. "And you're even slower than before."

His other fist slammed into Nappa's chin, driving it  
upward. Blood splattered against Ranma's face. He kicked  
Nappa in the stomach, spun around and kicked him across the  
face with his other foot.

The next kick was grabbed, and Ranma was pulled down  
and slammed into the ground. Nappa spit into the hole where  
Ranma's body lay. "I will not be beaten by the likes of YOU!"

Ranma appeared in front of him, on his feet, fist cocked  
back. Nappa started, surprised by the quickness and unable to  
block the strike. His stomach caved as Ranma's fist drove into it,  
knocking the air out of him, and dropping him to his knees.

Vegeta's eyes narrowed. "Above 6,000. . . impressive,"  
he muttered and glanced toward Nappa's heavily beaten form.  
"Nappa, Nappa, Nappa. . . Never could tell when he couldn't  
win."

Nappa regained his feet, every breath he took spraying  
blood onto Ranma's boots.

"You're pathetic, Nappa," Ranma stated mockingly, "Not  
even worth my time."

"RAHHHHHH!" Nappa screamed in raged, powering up  
as much as he could, red flames of aura bursting into life around  
him. "I'LL KILL YOU!"

"NAPPA! GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF, FOOL! HE  
CAN'T BEAT YOU IF YOU KEEP YOUR HEAD! CALM  
DOWN!" Vegeta yelled. Even though he knew Nappa was a lost  
cause, he wanted to see what else the other Saiya-Jin could do.

Nappa stopped, and grinned. "I. . .I wasn't thinking. . ."  
he muttered. "Y-you're right, thanks Vegeta."

Vegeta crossed his arms over his chest in annoyance.

"You tried to trick me into a fit of rage. . . now you'll see  
what I can really do. . ."

Ranma stood up in a wide stance, and said nothing.

"Are you ready. . . bastard?"

"Try it," Ranma replied with a smirk.

"Heh, still bluffing," Nappa chuckled.

'No, he has power to spare. . . and utter confidence in  
himself,' Vegeta thought.

The ground began to shake as Nappa powered up, his  
muscles and veins bulging. His aura exploded around him,  
vaporizing the rocks and pebbles around his feet.

'He's pumping his ki into the ground. The attack's gonna  
come from under me,' Ranma thought.

"RAH!" Nappa flipped his right hand upward, raising his  
middle and pointer fingers.

The ground around Ranma exploded upward, his body  
being engulfed in the bright light of Nappa's ki.

"GOTCHA!"

Ranma jumped out of the explosion, his body a blur.

"You're MINE!" Nappa crowed, leaping into the air after  
him. He swiped at Ranma's head, but missed as Ranma dodged  
around it. A kick came at his head, but he swung back, barely  
avoiding it.

The two split apart, Ranma hovering backwards, arms  
down at his sides. "You're moves are too predictable."

Nappa growled and flew at him, the two clashing with  
furious kicks, punches, blocks and dodges. They zipped back and  
forth across the sky, each trying to land a damaging blow.

They kicked, and their knees smacked into each other.  
They both tried to force the others leg down, gritting their teeth,  
and pushing as hard as they could. They broke apart, and spun  
around backwards.

Ranma dropped to the ground, and fired a couple volleys  
of ki up at Nappa, who easily dodged around them as he flew  
down. Jumping back, Ranma avoided Nappa's kick, which  
slammed deep into the ground.

Nappa caught Ranma's punch in his fist, and the two  
wrestled with it: Nappa trying to force Ranma's arm down, and  
Ranma trying to keep his arm up.

Ranma kicked out Nappa's left leg, causing him to drop to  
his knee and slugged the larger Saiya-Jin across the face.

Nappa yanked on Ranma's arm, pulling Ranma into his  
head, which rammed into the teenagers gut.

Ranma raised his leg, kneeing Nappa in the chin, which  
only drove Nappa's head deeper into his own gut.

Nappa grabbed Ranma's shirt with his free hand, lifted  
him off the ground, and threw him aside.

Ranma twisted in midair, landing on his feet, crouched and  
in a ready stance. He watched as Nappa pulled his foot out of the  
ground and lit his hands aflame of ki. Nappa charged, and  
punched at Ranma in every which way he could, but Ranma deftly  
avoided the swings and the burning ki.

Nappa swung at Ranma's leg, but missed as Ranma  
stepped over it, then back to avoid his next punch aimed at his  
stomach. He tried punching Ranma's left shoulder, but failed as  
Ranma treaded back with his left foot. This continued, with Nappa  
throwing punches and Ranma casually backing away from him until  
Ranma simply socked Nappa across the face.

Nappa stumbled aside, but regained his balance. He  
turned to Ranma, who had quickly put some space between them.

Vegeta grinned. This was turning out to be a much better  
fight than he had anticipated. The one who called himself Ranma  
had leveled off at just about 6,500, while Nappa was struggling to  
maintain his current 4,000. Nappa had no clue just how beat he  
was. Out sped, and out powered.

"You don't deserve mercy," Ranma stated, turning his  
gaze to the ground, "and for all the people you've killed, you don't  
deserve to live." He looked up again, meeting Nappa's eyes and  
drew a line in front of him in the dirt with his foot. He stepped  
back from the line, never breaking eye contact.

Nappa grinned and charged, passing the line and throwing  
a punch which Ranma quickly blocked, crossing his arms in front  
of him. Ranma's feet dragged backwards through the ground from  
the force, but he kept his balance. Nappa grunted as Ranma  
grabbed his wrist with both hands and twisted his arm to the side.

Before Nappa could recover, Ranma kicked the side of  
his chest four times with Amaguriken speed. 400 kicks hit Nappa,  
and he coughed up a wad of blood from the from seemingly four  
hit attack. Ranma twisted the arm further, forcing Nappa down to  
a knee, and brutally broke it at the elbow.

Nappa cried out, eyeing his now oddly angled right arm  
with horrific fascination.

*********

"Oyaji!"

Genma grumbled.

"Tell Okaasan to stop covering my eyes!" Ranko whined,  
trying to pry Nodoka's hand from her face. "I want to see Shuuto  
win!"

Genma grumbled again.

"It's best that you don't see this, Ranko-chan," Nodoka  
replied, a grimace on her face.

*********

Ranma stepped back, muttering, "That had to hurt. . ."  
Now viewing what he had done, Ranma realized that he had gone  
to an extreme which he had never really gone before. 'It had to be  
done, he's a murderer,' he thought, justifying the action.

"Kill. . .you. . ." Nappa growled, "you. . . I'm going to. . .  
kill you!" he shouted, unsteadily rising to his feet. "I am an elite  
warrior of the nobility! I'll have no lower-class fucker like you  
push me around!"

"It's over. You can't win now, Nappa" Ranma whispered,  
hoping that Nappa might actually listen. "Just give up and leave."

Nappa's breathing was ragged, blood pouring out on  
every exhale. His right arm hung limp, snapped disgustingly. His  
broken nose was now pointed completely to his left. He lifted his  
other arm, balling his hand into a fist, forcing as much ki into as he  
could.

"NAPPA!"

Both Ranma and Nappa stopped, and looked toward  
Vegeta.

"As entertaining as this has BEEN, that's ENOUGH! Get  
over here, you're done! I'll finish him myself!"

Nappa stared blankly and didn't move.

"Ridiculous. . . having to trouble myself with something  
like this, and Kakarrot hasn't even shown yet. . ." Noticing that  
Nappa still hadn't moved, Vegeta got furious. "What the hell are  
you doing! YOU'RE DONE!"

"NO!" Nappa screamed and ran at Ranma.

"YOU FOOL!" Vegeta screamed.

Ranma easily sidestepped Nappa's sloppy punch before  
ramming his knee into the Saiya-Jin's chest. He watched as  
Nappa dropped to his hands and knees and hack up even more  
blood, while gasping for air. Looking down at Nappa, Ranma's  
punched him in the back of the head, driving it into the ground.

"You won't hurt anymore people," Ranma stated, shaking  
his head. He slammed his foot on Nappa's lower back, breaking  
his spine.

Nappa grunted, eyes wide and suddenly lifeless. All of his  
spirit was gone, nothing left but a whimpering giant. Bloody tears  
dripped from his eyes. He turned his head and he gazed pitifully  
over at Vegeta.

*********

Goku skidded to a stop in front of King Enma's desk,  
unsure of where he was supposed to go. "How do I get back to  
Earth?" he asked, urgently. He was losing time. 'Where's Kami?'  
he thought.

"Goku!"

He turned around, seeing Piccolo sprinting toward him.  
Goku paled. If Piccolo was dead. . .

"Goku, you have to hurry!"

"Where do I go?" he shouted, utterly lost.

Piccolo pushed him, and he was suddenly falling toward  
Kami's lookout. He sped past it, down to Karin's tower.

"MASTER KARIN! HELLO!" he shouted, catching the  
cats attention.

"Here he comes! Although he looks awfully tired. . ."  
Karin muttered, and pulled out two senzu beans and threw them at  
Goku. "Here are the last two senzu beans! Take them!"

Goku caught the beans, and shouted, "Thanks! I needed  
these!" before continuing his fall. "I'll eat one now," he said,  
popping one into his mouth.

"Alright! I feel great!" he exclaimed, no longer tired from  
his long run down Snake Way. "Kinto-kun!"

A yellow cloud zoomed toward him, and he landed on it.  
"It's been a while! Come on!"

*********

"You take yours," he pointed at Nappa, "and I'll take  
mine," he pointed toward Gohan.

Vegeta snorted, looking none too pleased and began  
walking over to Nappa.

Ranma turned and walked to where Gohan lay. He knelt  
down beside him, "How you doin', kid?"

"Horrible. . .," Gohan mumbled.

"Don't worry, I think your dad's on the way. I feel a huge  
power coming," Ranma replied, and reached into the front pocket  
of his shirt. He pulled out his last senzu bean, which was  
surprisingly still intact. "I think you need this more than I do."

Gohan gratefully ate the senzu, and immediately was  
pushing himself to his feet. He stood up beside Ranma, only half  
the older boys height. Nodding, he said, "Thank you, but what  
about Krillin?"

"Who?" Ranma muttered, looking bewildered.

"Krillin! The short bald man!"

"He's still alive? Where is he?"

"He's hiding behind those rocks! He's really hurt!" Gohan  
replied and started running over to where Krillin was, Ranma  
following at a leisure walk.

"Krillin!"

"Oh! That guy," Ranma exclaimed, seeing the bald man  
lying face first in the dirt. "Unfortunately, I just gave you my last  
bean."

Krillin mumbled something into the ground.

"Don't worry, Krillin, Ranma won! He beat him!" Gohan  
cheered, helping Krillin to his feet. "And daddy's going to be here  
soon! I can feel him coming!"

Krillin weakly raised his right arm, and let out a pathetic,  
"woo. . ."

Ranma walked back around the rocks, to keep an eye on  
Vegeta, who was currently looking down at Nappa with disdain.

Nappa grabbed Vegeta's ankle with his good arm and  
clung to it weakly. "Vegeta. . ."

"You might as well take him and leave. I haven't even  
shown half of my full power," Ranma lied, hoping Vegeta wouldn't  
call his bluff.

Vegeta spared Ranma a glance before looking back down  
at Nappa. He reached down and grabbed his hand.

"Th-thank you, Vegeta. . ." Nappa muttered, grinning.

"Heh, no problem," Vegeta replied before flinging Nappa  
into the air.

"What?" Ranma exclaimed, as he watched Nappa soar  
skyward.

"What good are you if you cannot FIGHT?" Vegeta  
screamed before powering up, his body exploding in flame like ki.  
"NONE!"

"Too powerful!" Ranma grunted, bracing himself against  
Vegeta's raging aura.

Vegeta yelled as his aura shot upward, becoming a large  
ball which screamed toward Nappa's flailing body.

Nappa's eyes widened at the oncoming blast of ki,  
knowing he stood no chance. "VEGETA! YOU BAST-" was all  
he managed before the ki slammed into him, and then through him,  
blowing him up from the inside. His body disintegrated  
instantaneously.

Ranma stepped back against the sudden rush of hot air.  
Shielding his face, Ranma stared in shock first at the spot Nappa  
had just been and then at Vegeta.

'He just. . . killed him in one blast. . . how am I gonna fight  
against this guy. I thought Nappa was a monster, but THIS guy is  
the real monster. . .' Ranma thought, his heart pounding loudly in  
his chest.

Vegeta looked away from where Nappa had been and  
back at Ranma, a cool expression on his face. A small smile  
graced his face.

Ranma's heart pounded faster. "What. . . kinda. . .  
monster are you. . .?"

"I must say, Ranma was it? You've impressed me. You  
truly are worthy enough to be called a Saiya-jin," Vegeta  
complimented. "But where you stood a chance against that fool  
Nappa, you stand none against me. So I'll give you this choice. . .  
either join me. . . or die."

Ranma crossed his arms over his chest, taking a deep  
breath. "So long as you're threatening this planet, I won't back  
down. I'll fight you to my last breath."

Reaching up, Vegeta pulled off his scouter and placed it  
on a nearby rock. "What a shame. . . to have to kill such a  
powerful Saiya-jin."

Next Time: Chapter 3- Teamwork's The Key! Ranma And Goku  
Challenge Vegeta!  
The final fight to protect Earth from the Saiya-jin is about to begin.  
Can the combined efforts of Ranma and Goku stop the powerful  
force that is Vegeta?

Authors Notes: Well. . . once again, after a long hiatus, I  
finally finished this chapter. I had it pretty much done a LONG  
time ago, but just left it sitting. Lots of other fic chapters are almost  
done as well, as well as a few new fics. Huzzah. . .


	4. Chapter 3: Teamwork

﻿Disclaimer: I wish I owned these two series. Takakashi-san and  
Toriyama-san retain those rights. Those lucky bas . . . .

A True Saiya-jin  
A Ranma ½/ Dragon Ball Z Crossover  
By Hawk

Note: Thanks to everyone that's reviewed! They mean a lot to  
me, let me know you guys are really liking this. Gives me a reason  
to continue writing it besides for my own entertainment haha.

Chapter 3 - Teamwork's The Key! Ranma And Goku  
Challenge Vegeta!

Bulma Briefs sat in shock, along with the perverted  
Master Roshi, Puar and Oolong. Piccolo had died. They had  
watched it on the tv, along with the Saiya-Jin stranger that was  
currently battling the humongous, bald Saiya-Jin.

Roshi had informed them all that upon Piccolo's death,  
Kami-Sama had died as well, and in doing so, the Dragonballs  
disappeared with him. They had no way of wishing Yamcha back,  
or Tien or anyone else who had or might die. Tears were running  
down her face, and for the second time that day she felt utterly  
useless.

Master Roshi was sitting, solemn, as he watched the rest  
of the fight. The new Saiya-Jin that had arrived was proving to  
be an amazing fighter, and Roshi was extremely grateful for his  
sudden arrival, though he was curious as to where the Saiya-Jin  
had been the past number of years.

The fighting style looked very familiar to him. The  
punches, the kicks, the dodges and the all around form were from  
a style he hadn't seen in what seemed like fifty years. 'If that were  
the case. . . he would've come and bragged about this boy, I  
know he would've. . . So where did this boy learn the Any-?'

The front door slammed open, cutting off his thought  
process and startling him out of his sunglasses. Bulma, Puar, and  
Oolong jumped as well, suddenly scared as a darkened figure  
loomed in the doorway exuding pure anger.

"Eep!" Roshi muttered as he took in the overwhelming  
figure of Goku's very pissed off wife, Chichi.

"Ch-Chichi!" Bulma stuttered, no longer depressed over  
her lost love, instead fearful for her own life. What made it worse  
was that Chichi's father, the massive Ox King, was cramming  
himself into the house as well, looking slightly worried.

"What is my SON doing there!?" she screamed, pointing  
at the tv where her son was currently being beaten senseless by  
the massive Nappa.

Master Roshi stood up, calmly adjusting his sunglasses.  
"He's defending the Earth, Chichi, you should be proud."

"Proud? PROUD? Of my son being KILLED! He's only  
five years old! FIVE!" Hot, angry tears were running down her  
cheeks now.

Baba Yaga cleared her throat. "Mrs. Son, please calm  
down. Your son will be fine."

Chichi turned her tearful rage on the diminutive old hag.  
"How can you say that?" she demanded.

"Because that new, good Saiya-Jin has returned and is  
currently handling the other one very easily," the old woman  
stated as she watched the television.

All eyes followed hers, watching as the younger, smaller  
Saiya-Jin manhandled the larger, uglier one. He was quick, and  
efficient, and brutal as well, which he showed when he easily  
broke the giants arm as if it were nothing.

"Where's Goku?" Chichi asked urgently, "Why isn't he  
there yet? You wished him back to life didn't you?"

Bulma nodded quickly. "We did! We're not sure why he's  
not there yet!"

"THAT IDIOT!" Chichi screamed. 'Why aren't you there  
protecting your SON!' she thought angrily.

"Oooh!" Oolong exclaimed suddenly, catching everyone's  
attention.

"What is it?" Bulma asked.

"That. . . good Saiya-Jin. . . he just . . ." the shape shifting  
pig stumbled over his words. "Well, lets just say that the fight is  
over. . ."

The giant was down, arm broken, face bloody and beaten.  
He looked utterly pathetic, and the good Saiya-Jin was standing  
over him, looking fresh and easy.

"YEAH!" Bulma whooped, along with Master Roshi and  
Puar. Chichi wrung her hands, glaring at the tv.

The teen with the pigtail was talking to the other Saiya-  
Jin. He jerked his thumb toward the giant, then toward Gohan  
before walking over and kneeling beside the six year old boy. The  
two exchanged words until the teenager pulled something out of  
his front pocket.

"Isn't that a senzu bean?" Master Roshi asked noone in  
particular as he adjusted his sunglasses.

The small bean was popped into Gohan's mouth and the  
young boy was instantly on his feet, looking fresh and ready to  
fight again.

"My Gohan!" Chichi cried and hugged the tv. 'That boy  
saved my Gohan! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!'

"Hey, you're blocking the screen!" Oolong shouted,  
snorting angrily and grabbed the back of Chichi's shirt. He gave it  
a pull.

Chichi turned on him, fire burning in her eyes.

The pig cringed and let go, scared for his life, visions of  
bacon strips being cooked dancing through his mind. "Never  
mind, hug away!" Oolong squeaked and scrambled to safety.

As the angered woman turned back to the television, the  
channel feed died. Then she, and a woman named Nodoka  
Saotome fainted at the same time.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

"I must say, Ranma was it? You've impressed me. You  
truly are worthy enough to be called a Saiya-jin," Vegeta  
complimented. "But where you stood a chance against that fool  
Nappa, you stand none against me. So I'll give you this choice. . .  
either join me. . . or die."

Ranma crossed his arms over his chest, taking a deep  
breath. "So long as you're threatening this planet, I won't back  
down. I'll fight you to my last breath."

Reaching up, Vegeta pulled off his scouter and placed it  
on a nearby rock. "What a shame. . . to have to kill such a  
powerful Saiya-jin."

Ranma grinned. "Really? You remember that kid back  
there?" he asked, jerking his thumb toward where Gohan was  
standing, holding up Krillin.

Vegeta snuck a glance at Gohan and his eyes widened  
slightly. He had nearly forgotten.

The grin remained. "Kakarott, I believe is what you called  
him, is on his way here. I can feel him. Think you can handle two  
Saiya-jins, 'Prince' Vegeta?"

Sneering, Vegeta picked up his scouter and turned it on.  
Placing it over his eye, he scanned the sky, finding Kakarott's  
signature. "5,000. . ."

'He could be hiding a lot of his power as well. . . there's  
no telling how much stronger he's become,' Vegeta thought, his  
grip on his scouter tightening. He looked at Ranma through the  
scouters visor. 'Still 6,500. . . if those two work together, this  
might just be a hassle. DAMMIT!'

Ranma turned to Gohan and Krillin. "Stay back. You guys  
don't stand any chance against him."

"We can help!" Gohan stated, and Krillin nodded.

Ranma shook his head and looked back at Vegeta. "His  
power dwarfs mine by nearly three times."

"Three times. . ." Krillin muttered, and quickly grabbed  
Gohan's hand. He pulled the five year old with him to a safer  
distance.

Glaring hard, Vegeta pulled off the scouter once more and  
crushed it in his hand. "I'm going to kill you before he even gets  
here."

"I won't make it easy," Ranma replied, eyeing Vegeta  
calculatingly.

"Good, you'll die like a proud Saiya-Jin!" Vegeta roared  
and charged, his fist slamming into Ranma's gut and launching  
the younger fighter flying backwards. His back slammed into  
something hard and shattered it, rock and dust exploding all  
around him before he hit the ground. Tumbling and sliding,  
Ranma managed to dig his fingers into the dry land beneath him,  
thus slowly stopping himself.

Gasping and clutching his chest. 'That punch. . . Holy . . .  
I've never felt something so. . .' His stomach tensed and he  
coughed, puking up nothing.

"Is that it? One punch and you're down?" Vegeta mocked  
as he walked toward the downed Saiya-Jin. "Nappa was weaker  
than I thought, to be beaten by someone as pathetic as you."

Ranma pushed himself to his feet, grinning. "Hehe, you  
just caught me off-guard is all. Won't happen again." He rubbed  
his stomach which was slowly hurting less than before.

Vegeta vanished again, appearing before Ranma and  
punching at his head. He was surprised for only a moment when  
Ranma avoided the attack, and quickly followed with a kick  
toward the other Saiya-Jin's side.

Ranma gracefully danced around the kick and began his  
retaliation, striking quickly and deflecting another Vegeta punch  
to the side before slamming his fist into the Princes stomach,  
stunning the older Saiya-Jin. He dropped, placing a hand on the  
ground and swung his leg up at Vegeta's head.

His kick was stopped, Vegeta's hand grabbing his shin.  
Ranma winced as his leg was pulled and he was lifted slightly off  
the ground. He raised his arm, blocking a hard kick to his chest  
before Vegeta used the momentum to swing Ranma around and  
throw him into the air.

Pulling his arms back, Vegeta fired a dozen small ki blasts  
at Ranma's soaring body. The balls crashed into Ranma,  
exploding and creating a large cloud of dust and smoke in the  
middle of the sky. He grinned and raised his hand, firing one  
more, even larger, blast. The blast tore into the cloud and then  
out the back, surprising the Saiya-Jin Prince.

Ranma appeared behind Vegeta, kicking at his head.

Vegeta ducked and twisted, slamming his elbow into  
Ranma's gut. He calmly turned around and raised his hand, palm  
flat, toward Ranma's face.

Coughing hard, Ranma covered his stomach protectively.  
His knees wobbled beneath him. 'Too fast. . . and strong. . .' He  
stumbled back, away from Vegeta and looked at the raised hand  
before meeting the other Saiya-Jin's eyes.

"It's too bad, I was really starting to like you," Vegeta  
stated and his hand began to glow.

"Yeah, it's too bad. . ." Ranma started and grinned. "That  
I practice Anything Goes!"

Vegeta's eyes widened as Ranma grabbed his outstretched  
arm and pulled it to him. He moved to counter, but found  
Ranma's fist driving its way into his stomach before he could. His  
body slowed for just a moment, but it was enough to allow the  
younger Saiya-Jin to fall onto his back and kick upward with both  
feet.

Vegeta's head snapped back as Ranma's heels connected  
with his chin. He fell back, twisting hard in the air, until he landed  
unceremoniously a few yards away.

'He was faking how much my attack hurt him,' the older  
Saiya-Jin realized as he hurried back to his feet. He dodged a  
sudden punch to his chest before he stepped around the following  
kick to his ankle.

The two began exchanging blows, their attacks, counters  
and blocks mere blurs to the human eye. The ground beneath  
them began to crack and shatter as Vegeta soon gained the upper  
hand.

Ranma quickly found himself upside down and surging  
backwards having been kneed, flipped and kicked in under a  
second. His head skimmed a rock, tossing his body over onto his  
back, then up to his feet before he slammed face first into the  
ground. He rose, sidestepping a kick, and blocking the next  
though the blow still pushed him back.

Panting heavily, Ranma wiped a spot of blood from his  
lip, smearing it on the back of his hand. He was clearly  
outmatched by Vegeta's strength and speed. 'He's been toying  
with me.'

"Got anymore tricks up your sleeve?" Vegeta asked as he  
slowly approached.

"Heh, yeah, plenty," Ranma muttered. "But those don't  
matter now, cause we're about to be interrupted."

Vegeta's eyes narrowed.

"You shoulda killed me when you had the chance,  
Vegeta," Ranma taunted, grinning weakly.

Vegeta's ki flared around him suddenly and shifted, ready  
to attack.

Feet touched down softly a little ways behind him.

Ranma looked behind Vegeta and smiled. "You must be  
the kids dad," he stated as he observed the newcomer.

The new Saiya-Jin ignored the comment.

'Well that's rude. . .' Ranma thought.

Goku quietly looked at his fallen friends. He walked over  
to Piccolo and felt his neck for a pulse. "Piccolo. . ." he muttered  
and shook his head.

Glancing to his left, he took in Tien's lifeless body, and  
then Yamcha's. "Tien. . . Yamcha. . ." His head turned toward  
Ranma and Vegeta, looking them both over. "Then Kami-sama is  
too," he realized.

"His power is increasing quickly. . ." Ranma whispered to  
himself, though still Vegeta heard it.

"You did this," Goku stated, glaring at Ranma and  
Vegeta.

"Huh?" Ranma exclaimed.

"Where's my son? And Krillin?" The ground beneath  
Goku's feet cracked, and hard rocks began floating in the air  
around him from the power he was releasing.

Vegeta glanced at Ranma, grinning. "My partner here. . ."  
he started.

Ranma's eyes widened, realizing what Vegeta was doing.  
He turned to Goku. "No!"

"Killed them!" the Saiya-Jin Prince finished.

"He's lying!" Ranma shouted, though he had to quickly  
duck as Goku attempted to take off his head. He stepped back,  
avoiding a kick, then raised his arm to fend off a roundhouse.  
"Stop!"

He stumbled as Goku's foot caught his ankle, and  
managed to lean back just in time to avoid a powerful uppercut.  
Out of the corner of his eyes he saw Vegeta cross his arms and  
smile. Kicking upward, Ranma forced Goku to back off for a  
moment.

As he rolled to his feet, he turned and faced Vegeta, filling  
his hands with ki. "Bastard!" He brought his hands together,  
firing a long stream of ki.

The Prince of all Saiya-Jin stepped back and to the side,  
letting the blast tear past him. He smirked, his lips clearly telling  
Ranma, 'You're not the only one who's got tricks.'

Though surprised that the Saiya-Jin teammates would act  
in such a way, Goku moved in once more. He would kill the one  
that took his son from him. Appearing in front of the Saiya-Jin in  
red, he brought his fist back, covered in ki, intending to punch  
through his heart.

"Daddy!"

Goku's fist stopped, his knuckles pressing against the  
pigtailed Saiya-Jin's shirt.

Ranma stood, eyes wide, feeling the heat from Goku's ki  
against his chest. His heart raced, and a drop of sweat rolled  
down the side of his head. He had been caught off-guard by  
Goku's speed, and his hands had barely moved to form a block.

"Daddy, stop!" Gohan shouted as he hurried toward the  
two frozen Saiya-Jin's, holding up a limping Krillin.

"Go-Gohan?" Goku stuttered, surprised and elated. He  
turned to his son. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm ok," Gohan replied, nodding energetically.  
The senzu bean had worked wonders, and he was still feeling the  
effects. Krillin didn't look so good.

Ranma turned his attention to Vegeta, showing the other  
Saiya-Jin that he had not been forgotten, nor what he had said.

Vegeta raised an eyebrow in response before turning his  
head away, allowing the four a moment. Now that he had seen  
Kakarott's powers, he knew he could handle him. It would only  
be a matter of time before he stood the last remaining Saiya-Jin.

"I thought you were dead," Goku mumbled happily, and  
quickly hugged his son. He looked at Krillin. "Thanks for taking  
care of him."

Krillin blinked. "Wha?" He weakly shook his head. "I  
think he looked out for me more than I did," he replied with a sad  
laugh.

"Well, I've got a senzu bean here you can take," Goku  
said, and pulled out his last senzu.

Krillin chuckled. "Thanks," he started.

Goku moved to put the bean in his small friends mouth,  
but found his hand pushed back.

"But no thanks," Krillin finished.

"What, why not? You need it!" Goku exclaimed.

Krillin shook his head. "Not as much as he does," he  
explained and feebly nodded his head at Ranma.

"What? But he's one of the Saiya-Jin's!"

"No, daddy! He's on our side! He saved my life and he  
gave me one of those beans!" Gohan added urgently. "He beat  
the other Saiya-Jin before you got here!"

Krillin nodded. "He did. He's on our side, Goku. He told  
us to hide while he fought Vegeta and waited for you. Without  
him, we'd be dead. He came too late to save Yamcha, Tien and  
Chaozu though."

"You've improved a lot, Krillin, I can feel it, even though  
you're beat up like you are." Goku grinned at his friend.

"I thought I had. . . I tried. . . but they were too strong. .  
." Krillin replied, bowing his head. "I let them all die."

Goku turned to his son. "You've changed so much,  
Gohan! You trained well!"

"P-Piccolo trained me. . . b-but I couldn't do anything. . ."  
Gohan explained, looking up at his father. "He died. . . trying to  
protect me. . ."

"Yeah. . . now we can't use the Dragonballs anymore. . .  
nobody can come back to life. . . damn it all." Krillin glared  
angrily at the ground.

No one spoke for a moment.

"I don't think he's going to wait forever," Ranma  
announced, cutting into the silence.

Goku, Gohan and Krillin looked first at Ranma, then  
towards Vegeta.

"I guess I owe you an apology," Goku stated as he turned  
to Ranma.

"Would be nice. . . but right now, there are more  
important things to deal with," Ranma replied.

Goku stepped up besides Ranma, holding out the senzu  
bean.

"Thanks." Ranma took the bean. He snapped it in two,  
and tossed the other half to Krillin. Holding up his half, he  
explained, "I only need half. I think that half will be good for  
you."

Krillin smiled gratefully and popped the bean into his  
mouth. He was suddenly standing on his own, clenching his fists.  
He laughed a bit to himself. "Thanks. . . uh, I never caught your  
name?"

"Ranma, Ranma Saotome," he said and popped his half of  
the bean into his mouth. The moment he swallowed he felt his  
bruised body heal and his strength rise to a new level, as it always  
did after a good fight. He knew it still wasn't enough to handle  
Vegeta on his own though.

Goku bowed. "Goku Son, thank you for saving my son  
and friend."

"Thanks for not killing me."

"Heh. . . sorry about that, I thought-"

"I know what you thought, but now we have to fight  
him," Ranma interrupted, nodding toward an annoyed looking  
Vegeta.

"Right, I think I'll fight him by myself though," Goku  
stated, eyes hardening.

"You'll have a better chance if I fight with you. He's  
extremely powerful," Ranma explained.

"Look-" Goku started.

"No, we'll fight together," Ranma declared heavily.  
"We're fighting to protect Earth here, I won't let you fight him  
alone."

Sighing, Goku nodded. "Alright then, we'll fight him  
together." He turned to Gohan and Krillin. "You've gotta get  
back to the Kame house."

"Huh?!" Gohan exclaimed.

"I. . . get it. . ." Krillin muttered. "Gohan! You heard  
him!"

"B-but!"

"That guy's too powerful! If Goku and Ranma have to  
worry about US we'll only be getting in the way!" Krillin  
explained quickly.

"Sorry, he's even stronger than I thought he'd be," Goku  
added.

"O-okay. . . if I have to. . ." Gohan mumbled, looking  
upset.

"Do me a favor, Goku. Fight somewhere else!" Krillin  
turned to his friend, looking him in the eyes.

"Why?" Ranma asked. This seemed like a perfectly fine  
place to fight. No civilians to get in the way.

"What?" Goku added his voice of confusion.

"Do you want our friends' bodies mangled when they  
come back to life?" Krillin replied.

"When they come ba. . .? But, Krillin. . . Piccolo's dead,  
and so is Kami-sama. . . The Dragonballs are gone forever. . ."  
Goku shook his head. "Nobodies coming back to life. . ."

"Krillin. . . is there anyway. . .?" Gohan inquired eagerly,  
excited about the possibility.

"IS there?" Goku added.

Ranma observed the three curiously. "How can you bring  
someone back to life?"

"I'll explain later, just trust me! If you BEAT him!" Krillin  
finished, clenching his fist.

Goku looked at Ranma. "If we beat him."

Ranma nodded. "Yeah, it all comes down to that."

"What's keeping you! Suddenly scared!" Vegeta taunted,  
his patience having met its end. "Lets get this started so I can kill  
you already!"

"Alright, I'll lead him somewhere else," Goku stated and  
set his eyes on Ranma. "You follow me."

Ranma nodded.

"Wish us luck, ok?"

"Goku." Krillin extended his hand. "I'm sorry we can't  
help you guys. You'd better not die old friend."

Goku grasped his hand, shaking it. "No way!" He placed  
his hand on his sons head. "After this is done, I'm taking you  
fishing!"

"Yay!" Gohan exclaimed, clutching his fathers pants.

Ranma crossed his arms, wondering what his father would  
say upon his return.

"You call that a fight! I watched the whole thing on tv! It  
was pathetic!" Genma would say, and then probably try to force  
some crazy training upon him.

He sighed, wishing he had normal family and friends.

"Ranma-san."

Blinking, Ranma turned and noticed a hand extended.  
Looking down, he saw the bald monk, Krillin, grinning at him. "It  
was nice meeting you. Thank you for all your help. I hope to meet  
you again."

Ranma smiled and shook the mans hand, grateful.  
"Thanks, you too, but don't call me Ranma-san." Glancing to the  
side, he took note of Gohan who was now standing next to him  
as well.

"Um. . . thank you, Ranma, for saving me," the five year  
old said, smiling brightly. "I hope I get to see you again."

"You too, kid. I hope I get to see you again too," Ranma  
replied, grinning. "Now get outta here. Your dad and I have to  
take care of some business."

Gohan nodded. "Right!"

"Alright, Goku, lets do this."

Goku gave Ranma thumbs up. The two Saiya-Jin's turned  
to Vegeta.

"It's about time. . ." Vegeta grumbled.

"We're not fighting here," Goku stated.

"Have it your way."

The three Saiya-Jin's took to the skies, flying away at an  
incredible speed. Goku lead the way, Ranma right behind him,  
and Vegeta behind him.

'They're keeping up with me no sweat,' Goku thought.

Ranma appeared by his side and looked over at him. "He's  
powerful, very."

"I know," Goku replied.

"I'm not powerful enough to beat him myself, and from  
our brief fight, I don't think you are either," Ranma explained as  
they soared a hundred yards off the ground.

"I have a few techniques that I think may help us." Goku  
grinned at Ranma. "Sorry about before."

Ranma waved it off. "No problem, just glad you stopped  
your fist," he said and smiled.

"Me too. We can take this guy together."

Nodding, Ranma stared straight ahead. "Yeah, I've got a  
couple of techniques this guy hasn't seen yet. We can take him."

"Here!" Goku suddenly shouted. "Nothing lives in this  
desert!"

The three dropped, landing in a dry, and extremely rocky  
desert.

"Which makes it a fitting place to die," Vegeta announced  
and chuckled.

A loud breeze swept through the many strange rock  
formations, causing their hair to wave in the wind.

"You two should be honored, you know," the Saiya-Jin  
Prince started. "Two bottom-tier boys like you would hardly ever  
get the chance to fight with an elite warrior like me.

"We Saiya-Jin's are tested for combat aptitude soon after  
we're born. . . the pitiful babies are with low battle-numbers are  
shipped off to a planet with no serious opponents," Vegeta  
explained, looking over at Goku. "Just like you were.

"As for you," he turned his attention to Ranma. "I don't  
know where you came from or how you got here on this  
backwater planet of weaklings. I don't see why they'd send two  
baby Saiya-Jin's to this planet or how since you're clearly to  
young. Our planet was destroyed long before you were even  
born, I'd say."

Goku smiled. "If that's how I or we got to Earth, then I'm  
grateful. On this planet we know that even the lowest-born can  
outdo the elite if they work hard enough."

Ranma was having other thoughts. 'I could seriously be  
from another planet. . . does that mean my parents aren't my real  
parents?'

"Heh, at least they have a sense of humor here," Vegeta  
taunted. "Now I'll show you the wall that you can never scale  
with 'hard work' alone."

"We don't have to scale your 'wall'. We'll just break  
through it!" Ranma shouted and the ground beneath him  
exploded as he launched himself at the Prince.

His fist skimmed the tip of Vegeta's nose, the Saiya-Jin  
having leaned back ever so slightly to avoid the attack from the  
side. Following the momentum of his fist, Ranma fell forward,  
planting his knuckles on the ground resulting in a quick one  
handed handstand. He twisted his body, his foot swinging  
towards Vegeta's head.

The Saiya-jin Prince blocked the kick with his left arm and  
sidestepped another kick to his chest from Goku. His right hand  
moved, grabbing Goku's ankle and pivoted to throw him aside.

Goku placed his hands on the ground and kicked up at  
Vegeta with his other leg.

Ranma dropped onto his side, and swung his legs at  
Vegeta's.

Vegeta hopped over Ranma's sweep and grunted as he  
blocked Goku's kick with his arms.

The three fighters blurred into action, kicking, punching,  
blocking. Ranma and Goku attacked from both sides, and slowly  
the three floated higher into the air, circling in a violent dance.  
They stopped, Ranma's knee halted by Vegeta's hand, Goku's  
fist stopped by the other. Their kicks were blocked by Vegeta's  
shins and the three remained frozen for a moment.

In a sudden explosion of power, Vegeta forced the two  
away, surprising them both. He turned on Ranma first, his fist  
slamming into the teens gut. Dropping, he grabbed Ranma's  
ankles and flew toward the ground, pulling the other Saiya-jin  
with him. He stopped and hurled Ranma down.

Ranma tensed as he was flung madly through the air and  
toward the ground. His momentum was too fast to halt and he  
exhaled just before exploding into the earth, showering the area  
with dust and gravel.

Grunting, Ranma pulled himself out of the ground. He  
looked up just in time to see Goku, glowing red, strike Vegeta  
with a hard punch to the face. Shaking his head, Ranma looked  
again, seeing Goku move faster than before and slamming his  
knee into Vegeta.

'How'd he get so strong?' Ranma thought before Vegeta  
suddenly turned the tables and began beating on Goku. The  
friendly Saiya-Jin took a palm to his cheek so hard his head  
snapped and took the rest of his body with it.

Ranma pushed off the ground, flying straight at Vegeta's  
back. His hands filled with ki and he crashed head first into the  
Saiya-Jin Prince's spine. Wrapping his arms around Vegeta's  
waist, his ki covered hands clutched the bottom of the Prince's  
armor. His fingers clenched and the armor cracked from the  
pressure as the two flew through the sky.

Vegeta's hands grabbed onto Ranma's and he forcefully  
pulled them away.

Goku appeared, ramming both of his feet into Vegeta's  
chest, cracking the armor even more, and slamming the Saiya-Jin  
Prince hard into Ranma who was still behind him.

Gritting his teeth, Ranma freed his arms and quickly  
snaked them around Vegeta's. "GET HIM!" Ranma screamed  
over Vegeta's shoulder as he wrapped his legs around the Saiya-  
Jin Prince's legs, effectively trapping him completely in the air.

Goku flew in fast and dropped, spun, and rose like a  
rocket. His fist crashed into Vegeta's chin in a massive uppercut,  
and spit sprayed from the alien's mouth. His head slammed back  
into Ranma's from the impact and the two began to drop.

Brow furrowed, Ranma rolled his body, putting Vegeta  
beneath him as they fell. He released the Saiya-Jin just in time to  
be able to stop himself in midair. His hands filled once more with  
ki and Goku appeared at his side, hands charging as well.

Vegeta, screaming in anger, halted his fall with a sudden  
burst of ki inches away from the ground.

"MOKO TAKABISHA!"  
"KAMEHAMEHA!"

The two blasts soared downward together before  
suddenly coiling around one another as they did.

Vegeta looked over his shoulder just in time to see the  
dual blast reach him. He disappeared in the ensuing explosion, the  
earth tearing apart and disintegrating.

Ranma waved a hand to clear away the approaching dust.

"Stay on guard," Goku stated. "This isn't over yet."

"We just did that super cool move and that's all you have  
to say?" Ranma replied and crossed his arms over his chest.

A sudden scream of fury broke their conversation and the  
massive cloud of dust that had formed cleared way. Vegeta stood,  
blood dripping from his forehead and lip, a powerful green aura  
surrounding him. Placing his hands against his chest, palms facing  
up at them, the Saiya-Jin Prince sneered.

"GALICK GUN!"

His hands pushed up and the aura surrounding him shot  
out at the two.

Slapping their hands together, Ranma and Goku used each  
other as something to push off of. The beam from the attack tore  
through the air between them. As Ranma turned to face the  
ground, a knee planted itself in his spine. He cried out in pain  
before two fists came down on his chest and he found himself out  
of breath. He was surprised when he found himself hitting the  
ground and everything went momentarily black and sound  
disappeared.

And then everything restarted brighter and, louder than  
ever, was the scream of his own voice. His mouth snapped shut  
and moved his head just in time to avoid Vegeta's foot which  
destroyed the ground where it had been.

Goku, shining red, barreled into Vegeta, and the two took  
off into the skies.

Ranma arched his back and groaned loudly. His eyes  
followed the other two Saiya-Jin's fight, envious. "Nowhere  
close. . ." he muttered.

xxxxxxxxx

"Stop crowding!" Baba Yaga shouted as everyone tried to  
watch the fight on her magic ball.

"Doesn't this thing get better reception!" Chichi shouted  
and made to grab the ball.

"If you'd all stop touching it and let me concentrate!"  
Baba Yaga shot back.

"It looks like just Goku is fighting now," Bulma said,  
wringing her hands. "Where's the other guy?"

"He got taken down hard!" Oolong exclaimed. "I don't  
know if he's gonna get up!"

Bulma wrung her hands together. Things were not  
looking good.

xxxxxxxxx

Goku flipped back in midair after receiving a kick to the  
jaw. His Kaio-ken dropped and he found himself panting for air,  
shocked that Vegeta had fended him off.

"Heh. . . If that was your best. . . I'm disappointed. . ."

Goku grinned, finding himself suddenly excited by just  
how strong Vegeta was proving to be.

"He's smiling. . . has he given up and stopped caring? Or  
is he able to increase his power more?" Vegeta whispered to  
himself.

"I'd say you've hit your limit. . . so let me show you  
something before you die! The overwhelming power of an elite  
Saiya-Jin!"

"Go ahead!" Goku retorted with a smile.

Vegeta chuckled. "I look forward to erasing that smirk."

Ranma pushed himself to his hands and knees just in time  
to experience what felt like the entire planet shake. Wind  
suddenly blasted him in the face, whipping his pigtail and forcing  
him to cover his eyes from the dust. "Wh-what the hell is going  
on!"

He looked up to see the massive rock formations around  
him start to crumble from the force of the winds. Stones larger  
than himself fell at him and he could now feel the giant ki that  
was causing it all. Ranma leapt from the shaking earth and into the  
air, dodging around the falling debris. The sky had darkened from  
Vegeta's enormous amount of ki.

And then suddenly it all stopped. The sky was crystal clear  
and every stone pillar that had been in the near vicinity was  
crumbling to the earth.

Ranma swallowed heavily. "In-incredible. . . not even  
Saffron. . ."

"A-all the clouds blew away," he heard Goku mutter.

"This is it, Kakarrot!" Vegeta yelled and his head was  
colliding with Goku's.

As Goku flew back, Ranma struck at Vegeta's unguarded  
head, punching it as hard as he could.

It did nothing but turn Vegeta's head. The Saiya-Jin  
Prince looked back, smiling wide. "Is that it!?" he shouted before  
backhanding Ranma across the face.

Spinning violently, Ranma cried out, blood flying from his  
mouth. He grunted as he was kicked in the back of his head and  
his vision went black once more for just a moment. When it  
returned, Vegeta's fist was inches from his face.

Goku's hand, blazing a fiery red, latched onto Vegeta's  
wrist, stopping the attack. He struck Vegeta across the face with  
his other fist and then kicked the Saiya-Jin Prince away.

Wiping his chin, Vegeta grinned at Goku. "That was a  
little bit stronger."

"Kaio-ken times two," Goku replied smugly, though it  
was apparent that using it was wearing on him. The red ki  
surrounding him faded away.

"Damnit. . ." Ranma muttered and weakly eyed Goku.  
"That ability. . . I should use that. . ."

Goku looked to Ranma. "This isn't a technique you can  
just learn by looking at. It takes training to really make it  
effective."

Ranma spit up a wad of blood in annoyance. 'Just like the  
Bakusai Tenketsu. . . I can use it, but don't benefit from the  
training that came with it so it's only like having half the  
technique,' he thought to himself. 'I can use that Kaio-ken, I  
know how just by watching Goku-san, but it won't be as  
effective.'

"But!" Ranma exclaimed, disappeared and reappeared in  
front of Vegeta, catching the Prince off guard with his speed.  
"Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken Bakusai Tenketsu!" he shouted as  
his fists blurred and slammed into the Saiya-Jin armor, poking  
every crack in less than a second.

The armor shattered easily, shocking Vegeta again.  
Ranma grinned, exalting in the minor victory. His hands moved to  
his chest, palms facing the Saiya-Jin Prince.

"Im-impossible!" Vegeta exclaimed, regaining himself  
enough to recognize the oncoming attack.

"GALICK GUN!" Ranma roared and a massive surge of  
ki exploded from the palms of his hands, engulfing Vegeta  
complete.

Goku stared in awe at how fast it all had happened.  
"Wow!"

The blast dissipated, revealing a Vegeta who had managed  
to shield his head with his arms, smoking wafting from his body.  
He slowly uncurled from his defensive posture, waves of anger  
pouring out from his ki.

Ranma's arms dropped to his side, exhausted.

"Kaio-ken times two!" A Goku was upon Vegeta, striking  
him with every punch, kick, elbow, or knee he could manage in  
the few seconds he had.

It wasn't enough as Vegeta abruptly parried an attack and  
slammed his fist into Goku's face. He kicked Goku away before  
almost carelessly throwing a ball of ki after him. Turning on  
Ranma, Vegeta soared at him, bloody teeth showing. "You. . .!"

"Me?" Ranma managed a chuckle before Vegeta's knee found its  
way into his gut. He found himself under a punishing assault,  
punches harder than he'd ever felt striking him faster than he  
could bring himself to parry.

"Kaio-ken times three!"

Before Ranma knew what was happening, Goku was kicking  
Vegeta away. The pigtailed teen slowly started drifting to the  
ground, blood smeared across his face, arms powerless at his  
sides. Upon his toes touching land, Ranma collapsed under the  
weight of his own beaten body.

He glanced up to see Goku beating on Vegeta as if he were a  
rag doll. The Saiya-Jin Prince was screaming in frustration at  
being unable to stop it. He was slammed into a rock and quickly  
flipped to his feet.

Goku landed a bit away, the Kaio-ken fading around him.  
He dropped to a knee, panting heavily. His body was aching all  
over.

Shuddering from pure rage, Vegeta wiped a hand across  
the back of his mouth, smearing his white glove red. "Blood! I've  
shed my noble blood because of this piece of trash!"

"I'd like to take credit for some of that," Ranma called  
from where he crawled on his hands and knees. He gingerly rose  
to his feet. The feeling in his arms was returning and he slowly  
clenched his fists.

"Why won't you just die. . ." Vegeta growled and took to  
the sky. "Both of you are insects to me!"

"Try and squash us then!" Ranma taunted and vanished  
where he stood.

"Again!" Vegeta exclaimed and searched around himself  
frantically. His hands erupted with ki and he began slamming the  
ground with blast after blast. "I'll give you nowhere to hide!"

"Kaio-ken times three, KAMEHAMEHA!"

Vegeta turned just in time for the blast to crash into his  
entire body. He screamed bloody murder as he was rocketed  
higher into the sky.

Ranma appeared beside Goku and quickly slung the older  
Saiya-Jin's arm over his shoulder. The two grinned at each other.

"Good move," Goku mumbled.

"Figured if I could distract him for just a little bit," Ranma  
replied with a shrug.

"Son Goku! I can't believe it! You guys did it!"

The two glanced over to see a short, overweight man  
rushing at them, a katana strapped to his fat waist.

"Yajirobe?" Goku fumbled. "What're you doing here?"

Ranma raised an eyebrow. What was this guy doing here?

"You didn't notice me? You guys must've been really  
distracted!" Yajirobe exclaimed. "But you did it! You blasted that  
sonofa-you-know-what away!"

Ranma shook his head. "No. It's not over yet."

"Yo-you don't me-mean?" Yajirobe stumbled, sweat  
dropping from his forehead.

"I think . . . you better. . . run for it," Goku panted, still  
using Ranma for support. "He's still alive. If he were THAT easy  
to kill, we would've finished this without any trouble."

"B-b-but you guys are stronger than him, right? I m-mean  
if he comes back!"

Goku shook his head wearily. "Nope. I've really torn my  
body up. I could handle a little more, but not as much as that guy  
has left in him," he explained. "What about you, Ranma?"

"I got a couple more things I could throw at him, but I'm  
barely standing as it is," Ranma stated. "If I had time to rest,  
maybe I could hold him off a bit more, but beat that guy?

"Can't do it."

"Oh. . . gotcha," Yajirobe whispered. "W-well, I'll see ya!  
Good luck!"

"Yeah. . . sure. . ." Goku muttered.

"Coward," Ranma spat as he watched Yajirobe flee in  
fear.

"It's okay," Goku replied. "Yajirobe wouldn't be able to  
do much of anything against that guy."

"Speaking of which. . ." Ranma looked up. "What is he  
doing? Why's he flying around up there?"

"That's fine. We can rest a bit while he's up there," Goku  
replied though less than a minute later they could feel Vegeta  
flying back down. "He's coming down."

Ranma nodded and slid from under Goku's arm so they  
stood side by side. They had to present a strong front, and  
holding up Goku was not that image.

Vegeta landed a bit away. "You thought you outsmarted  
me by blowing up your moon, did you!"

"The moon? What are you . . ." Goku started.

Ranma looked up to the sky. The moon had disappeared a  
couple months ago.

"Ha! Don't play the fool. . ." Vegeta continued, clenching  
his fists. "Do you even know how we transform by seeing the full  
moon?"

"Trans. . . wha?"

"Moonlight is only sunlight reflected. . . but only when  
reflected by the moon does it contain GREEN-spectrum  
radiation," Vegeta explained. "When the moon is full, that  
radiation exceeds 17 million zeno units per second, and when we  
absorb that full amount through our eyes. . .

"Then the Saiya-Jin reaction is set off in a certain gland in  
our tails. . . and our transformation begins!"

Ranma's tired eyes widened and he felt his own tail  
twitch. 'Transform because of my tail?'

"There are many moons around many planets in this  
galaxy. . . but no matter their size, their green radiation will not  
exceed 17 million z.p.s. without the circular reflective space of a  
full moon.

"However. . . the greatest Saiya-Jin's can compress the  
planets atmosphere with a power ball . . . TO CREATE A  
SMALL, ARTIFICIAL MOON THAT REFLECTS 17  
MILLION ZENO!" Vegeta screamed as a strange ball of ki  
formed above the palm of his hand.

"It's time. . . it's finally time for you to DIE!" Rearing  
back, Vegeta hurled the ball into the air. "Low class fighters  
simply shouldn't challenge an elite!" He clenched his hand at the  
ball which stopped abruptly.

"Burst and mix!"

The ball exploded, shining an artificial light down on the  
battle field.

"What is that!" Goku exclaimed.

"He created a moon!" King Kai explained in Goku's head.

"Too bad you don't have a tail!" Vegeta shouted.

"In your arrogance, did you forget about me?" Ranma  
stated calmly. His tail wagged down at his side.

Vegeta smiled but kept his eyes on the artificial moon. "I  
was COUNTING ON YOU AND YOUR INEXPERIENCE!" he  
screamed as his face began to stretch and his body expand.

"You'll go WILD!"

Next Time: Chapter 4- Clash Of The Titans! Two Great Apes  
Collide!  
Unable to not look, Ranma follows Vegeta into Oozaru. Goku,  
Gohan and Krillin, trapped in the middle, must come up with a  
plan to stop them both.

Authors Notes: Sorry 'bout the long delay. You know me,  
and my breaks. . . I did about nine pages of this in about three  
hours. Hope you enjoyed! Leave a review and tell me what you  
thought!

08/23/09 - Cleaned it up a bit...


	5. Chapter 4: Clash Of The Titans! Two Grea

"Hang in there, Gohan! We're almost to the turtle hut!"  
Krillin shouted as he and Goku's son flew through the sky.

"I'll try!" Gohan replied. He was feeling tired keeping up  
with Krillin and infinitely more worried about his father.

Something tickled Krillin's senses and he turned his head,  
looking in the direction the three Saiya-jins had gone.  
"H-hey . . . look . . ." he said.

"What?" Gohan asked as Krillin stopped in midair. He did  
the same, turning to see what had caught Krillin's attention.

"Where we just came from . . . Is . . . is that a star . . .?"  
Krillin muttered more to himself than to Gohan. He could  
feel beads of sweat rolling down the sides of his head.

"It looks to bright . . ." Gohan added, his tiny fists clenching.  
His body tensed, as though stabbed in spine. He glanced  
at Krillin, finding him just as anxious.

"Oh, God . . ." Krillin said, eyes going wide, mouth agape.  
"It's like some huge 'Ki' just . . . ex-exploded!"

Gohan exhaled in disbelief. "It can't be my dad's . . . it  
can't be! M-maybe it's Ranma's! Right?" he asked, hoping  
but not believing Krillin would know the answer.

"We can't say for sure, it could've been the other . . . it  
was just . . . so huge . . ."

Gohan flew in place, staring into the distance and the far  
off ball of light. "I'm going back!" he said.

"What!" Krillin exclaimed. "No! Gohan, you-you can't!"

"My daddy's in trouble! I know it! If I don't go back, he  
and Ranma could die!" Gohan said boldly, feeling his  
courage build.

"B-but what can you do against that Saiyan?"

"No-nothing, I guess . . . but . . ." Gohan started slowly,  
wondering if he could do anything at all in the fight. He  
didn't care though, his dad was in trouble and the last  
time that had happened, he had watched him die. There  
was no doubt now. "I have to go!" he shouted angrily  
before blasting off, flying fast to the light in the sky.

"No! Wait!" Krillin shouted and took off after him. "Gohan,  
you're crazy! And I guess . . . so am I!"

* * *

Disclaimer: I wish I owned these two series. Takakashi-san  
and Toriyama-san retain those rights. Those lucky bas . . . .

"It's not the size of the dog in the fight; it's the size of the  
fight in the dog."  
- Mark Twain

A True Saiya-jin  
A Ranma ½/ Dragon Ball Z Crossover  
By Hawk

Note: Thanks to everyone that's reviewed! They mean a lot to  
me; lets me know you guys really like this. Gives me a reason  
to continue writing it besides for my own entertainment haha.

Chapter 4 – Clash Of The Titans! Two Great Apes Collide!

* * *

"No . . . No way . . . it-it can't be!" Goku stuttered, staring in  
awe as Vegeta and Ranma's bodies expanded, fur spreading  
across their arms and legs. Their faces sprouted snouts,  
canine's growing longer. In almost no time, they towered over  
him and the land, two gargantuan beasts, filled with fury.

The great ape that was Vegeta (Goku could tell because his  
armor had expanded with his body), roared in absolute  
delight, rattling Goku's eardrums and the bones in his body.  
He shuddered under the weight of Vegeta's Ki, combined with  
that of Ranma's, whose clothes hadn't enlarged, instead  
tearing from his body.

Ranma, in his naked ape glory, pounded his chest like a crazed  
beast, howling thunderously into Vegeta's face. For all his  
madness, it appeared Ranma still knew who his enemy was.  
Or, he was more interested in challenging the bigger threat  
among his combatants.

To Goku's surprise, Vegeta burst into comprehensible laughter.  
It was cut off when Ranma barreled into him, slamming them  
into the Earth, shattering boulders and rocks beneath their  
weight, and shaking the ground for miles around.

"This ape . . . Grandpa told me about this!" Goku said to himself  
as he watched the two giants wrestle across the land, the rocks  
rattling beneath his feet. "You killed my grandpa!" he growled.

The memories of his grandfather's warning returned to him:  
"Grandson, a monster ape comes out on the night of a full moon.  
You mustn't go outside. You'll be safe if you sleep . . ." Grandpa  
Gohan had said so many years before. He clenched his fists,  
anger pulsing through his views. One of the monsters had  
killed his only family, leaving him alone, to fend for himself.  
Was it really possible? But then something felt wrong. Vegeta  
had said that Goku was a Saiyan . . .

Ranma was suddenly being thrown through the air, roaring  
wildly as he did, crashing heavily a great distance away.  
Vegeta rose to his feet, marching toward Goku. "Fool! Only  
Saiyan's with tails can transform to this form, the Saiyan's  
most powerful form! You have no tail! That is why you don't  
change!"

And then, despite his usual ignorance, Goku pieced it all  
together. Vegeta making a false moon, the giant ape, the  
tail that he once had. Kami-sama's words filtered through  
his mind, "Wh-why don't you let me remove that tail  
permanently. I'm sure it . . . uh . . . gets in your way . . ."

Kami-sama had wanted to get rid of his tail because it changed  
him into an ape, just as it had Vegeta and Ranma. "W-wait a  
minute . . . then that means the monster who appeared at the  
martial arts tournament and smashed the buildings . . . and  
the one who Killed grandpa . . . were all me?"

His head hung and he felt the ground rattle as Vegeta  
approached. 'I'm so sorry, grandpa . . .' he thought sullenly.  
'I don't think I can't beat this monster . . . if I die, I guess I'll  
see you in heaven and ask for forgiveness . . .'

He snapped out of his funk as Ranma charged across rocky  
canyon, punching rocks out of the way. His inhuman snarl  
carried across the land when he slammed into Vegeta's  
waiting fist. As his snout knocked into the ground, Vegeta  
was already lifting him by the scruff of his neck. An uppercut  
rocked his jaw, huge wads of spittle flying from his maw.

'If Ranma can give me enough time, maybe I can pull off a  
Spirit Bomb! It could beat Vegeta!' Goku thought excitedly, a  
sudden charge coursing through his muscles. He started putting  
distance between himself and the two apes. Raising his arms,  
he began pleading to the world, every bit of nature, for a piece  
of their Ki. "Please . . . if you don't, we'll all be finished . . ."

Ranma's arms flung madly at Vegeta, like those of an ignorant  
brute. Vegeta easily parried them, twisting Ranma around and  
wrapping his head in a tight lock. "One flex and your neck breaks  
. . ." Vegeta growled. "Where's Kakkarot?"

The threat didn't stop Ranma's rampage and he swung fervently  
at Vegeta's binding arms. His mouth opened wide and he bit  
hard into Vegeta's side, teeth sinking into thick flesh. The attack  
caused Vegeta to release him, and Ranma instantly bowled the  
other ape over, fists pummeling, flailing heavily at anything he  
could hit.

"I'm done playing!" Vegeta boomed, his hands grabbing Ranma's  
snout. He started prying it open, preparing to break it. To his  
surprise, Ranma smartly pushed away, shoving Vegeta's arms off.  
They climbed to their feet, growling at each other incessantly.

Vegeta stopped and looked off in the distance, eyes wide.  
"FOUND YOU!" he roared, mouth stretching wide. A massive blast  
of Ki exploded from his throat, tearing up the land as is rocketed  
toward Goku.

"Shit!" Goku yelled and lowered his arms, raising the energy he  
had built up. It clashed with the blast, erupting in front of him  
and blowing him hundreds of yards away. His body flipped like a  
coin, slamming multiple times across the ground. He groaned softly  
when he finally came to a stop. "How'd he . . . that blast, so  
powerful . . . damnit . . ." After pushing himself to his feet, he  
swayed to the side, almost collapsing. "My spirit Bomb . . . I don't  
think I have it in me to make another one." He could taste the  
blood on his lips and drew a hand across them, wiping the blood  
over his hand.

Before Vegeta finished, Ranma was punching him in the jaw,  
knocking him over, the immense line of Ki veering off target,  
tearing off a huge chunk of land before it stopped. This time,  
Ranma was the one with his thick arms wrapped around  
Vegeta's neck. He climbed onto Vegeta's back in a stranglehold  
piggyback ride. Roaring triumphantly, Ranma tightened his hold.

Reaching behind himself, Vegeta grabbed Ranma's back and  
crouched low. With an unruly grunt, he jumped in the air,  
Ranma riding on his back as they went up. Falling forward,  
Vegeta flipped to two so they landed with Ranma beneath  
him, crushing the other ape into the rocky terrain. Vegeta  
was rolling off, free of Ranma's grasp and slamming Ranma's  
face into the ground, laughing heartily.

"Pathetic! I thought you might have been some kind of trouble  
for me, but you're dumber than I expected." He lifted the head  
and pushed it back down again then slugged Ranma straight in  
the skull.

Ranma went limp, knocked unconscious by the blow. Vegeta  
released his head, watching it drop unceremoniously with a  
loud thud. Chuckling to himself, Vegeta looked off in Goku's  
direction. "I'll finish you later, when maybe you'll provide a little  
more of a challenge."

Goku flinched as Vegeta's massive frame landed only a few yards  
away. He smiled ruefully to himself, having watched Ranma's  
defeat in the distance.

"And what were you up to over here, eh? I felt the Ki you were  
building up. Planning a surprise attack?" Vegeta growled mirthfully.  
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Got anything left in you?"

"I got a little bit," Goku lied, rising to his feet. His legs wobbled,  
but he kept his balance, getting himself ready to move.

"Let's see it!" Vegeta shouted, lifting his foot to step on Goku.

Goku leapt aside, narrowly avoiding the foot, but not Vegeta's  
swiping hand, which slammed into his back. He crashed into a  
high rock formation and fell to the ground, stunned. When he  
looked up, Vegeta's giant foot was dropping toward him. His arms  
moved to shield his face when he felt himself being pulled and  
lifted off the ground, into the air, the sound of stone being  
crushed echoing behind him.

"Daddy!"

Opening his eyes, Goku found himself in the arms of Krillin, Gohan  
flying right next to them. "Wh-what are you doing here?" he  
exclaimed.

"We came to help!" Gohan declared.

"Stupid!" Goku cried. "You're going to get yourselves killed!"

"Happened once already, I think I can handle going through it  
again if need be!" Krillin stated. "All we need to do is cut off his  
tail and he'll turn human again."

"If you die, you can't be wished back," Goku replied. "You said it  
yourself, the Dragonballs are gone. We can't wish anyone back."

"Remember what I said, there might be a way! But right now, we  
need to deal with-shit!" Krillin shouted and flew up, dragging Goku  
with him. Vegeta's colossal hand barely missed him.

Goku broke from Krillin's arms, yelling, "I'll face him, you take out  
his tail!"

The three jetted in different directions, Vegeta trying to keep an  
eye on all three but failing. He spun around angrily, keeping his  
eye on Goku, the one he deemed to be the biggest threat.  
"Reinforcements won't do you any good, especially those two,"  
he said.

"Come and get me, Vegeta," Goku replied and was instantly on  
the defensive, narrowly avoiding Vegeta's fist. He was smacked  
in the back by the thick tail, spending him sprawling through the  
air. He cried out in pain. His leg was grabbed, Vegeta's thick  
fingers easily curling around the limb. Before he had a chance to  
react, it was broken, crushed in Vegeta's palm. Screaming madly,  
Goku hung limp from his leg.

Vegeta lifted Goku like a ragdoll, looking him in the face. "Really  
thought you could get away from me?" He reared back, Goku  
dangling from his hand, and threw him.

Goku flew through the air at such a speed that the world became  
a blob of colors. When it stopped, his entire body felt destroyed,  
along with the boulder he had slammed into. He tried to yell but  
nothing left his mouth but blood and spit. He mumbled unintelligibly  
as Vegeta marched toward him. In his fist, he built up as much Ki as  
he could muster, waiting for the ape to draw closer.

"Still alive? Well, not for long," Vegeta said, lifting a single finger.  
"I'm going to crush you like the insect you are!"

"Sh-shut up . . . Vegeta . . . you beat me, you . . . you were  
stronger than me . . . but this fight isn't over. Don't be so proud  
. . . of beating up on me like this . . ."

Vegeta only laughed on and brought down his finger. Before it  
reached Goku, Vegeta took a blast of Ki in the eye, courtesy of  
Goku himself. Vegeta roared in anger, covering his face and  
stepping back.

"Just . . . call it . . . s-something to remember me . . . by . . ."  
Goku muttered, his eyes finding Vegeta's tail as it wagged  
violently behind him. "One day . . . you'll lose . . ."

"Bastard!" Vegeta snarled, burn marks forcing his left eye shut.  
"You've scarred my face!"

"Now!"

Vegeta turned at the voice, finding Krillin throwing a golden disk  
of Ki. It sliced through the air, spinning like a buzz saw, curving  
through the air, right at Vegeta's unprotected tail.

"What?" he cried in surprise. He moved to jump but found himself  
suddenly tackled out of the way by Ranma's enormous body,  
slamming him to the ground. The Kienzan nicked Ranma's back,  
cutting it slightly and causing the beast to holler in pain.

"Damnit, what the hell!" Krillin exclaimed angrily. "That would've  
done it!"

Gohan had been watching everything, wondering what he could do  
to help. Taking off, he dashed over to his father, sliding to a stop by  
his side. "Daddy!"

"Gohan . . . that other ape . . . is Ranma . . . he can't control himself  
. . . unlike Vegeta," Goku explained. Gohan was trying to lift Goku to  
his feet, but finding it hard to do with his father's broken body. The  
two apes were grappling right next to them, kicking up dust and rocks.

"We need to move!" Gohan demanded and finally hauled his father off  
the ground. He looked up to find the naked ape, Ranma, falling toward  
them. Pushing off, they flew away, narrowly avoiding being crushed  
beneath Ranma, who had Vegeta landing on top of him with both knees  
driven into his chest. Dust clouded the area, rocked raining down  
around them, pelting them as they flew.

"I can't get a good shot at the tail with them rolling around like they  
are," Krillin stated, sidling up to Gohan in the air. "If I miss, I might  
get Ranma."

Ranma was biting Vegeta's shoulder, drawing blood through his armor.

"I'm pretty much useless," Goku said weakly. "My leg's shattered, my  
right arm . . . broken, and I think . . . most of my ribs are done . . .  
done for."

"What should we do?" Gohan asked nervously.

"Fly over there," Goku said, pointing to a pile of rock. The three flew  
toward the area, away from the brawling apes. "I can't throw it, but  
. . . if I make another Spirit Bomb, I can . . . give it to you, Krillin . . .  
and you can throw it."

"What? Spirit Bomb?"

"It's a technique . . . King Kai taught me. We can use it . . . to beat  
Vegeta . . . even in his ape form . . . it should be strong enough . . ."  
Goku explained, his left arm dragging across the rocks. Breathing  
was a clear problem. "I just need enough time . . . to gather the  
energy. I had to use . . . what I had . . . to . . . save myself . . ."

"Okay! I'll look for a way to help Ranma-san!" Gohan said and  
blasted off before either his father or Krillin could voice a complaint.

"How long?" Krillin asked, watching Gohan fly.

"Only a . . . couple minutes," Goku muttered.

"Hey!"

Krillin and Goku looked to the speaker, finding tubby Yajirobe  
climbing over the crumbled boulders. He was panting like a dog.

"Yajirobe!" Krillin exclaimed. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I've been here for awhile, watching the entire fight! Are you  
guys' crazy? There's no way you can beat that guy!" Yajirobe  
complained.

"If we cut off his tail he'll turn human again!" Krillin countered.

"That involves getting CLOSE to him!" Yajirobe countered. "That's  
just nuts! Especially since there are TWO of them!"

"Don't be such a coward!"

"Better to be a coward and alive than brave and dead!"

Krillin grabbed the front of Yajirobe's GI, pulling him close. "You're  
the one that quit on the training, Yajirobe, not us! You can run  
away now, but if Vegeta wins, he'll find you eventually and you'll  
be dead anyway!"

The chubby fighter swallowed loudly at the threat.

Ranma's fist buried itself in Vegeta's maw, snapping it shut, blood  
pouring from his nose. Vegeta's hands were around Ranma's thick  
neck, squeezing the life out of his fellow Saiyan. He ignored every  
blow to his face, focusing only on cutting off Ranma's air. "This time  
you die."

A small (compared to Vegeta's size) ball of Ki collided with his head,  
rocking him slightly, as though he'd been struck by a thrown rock.  
He looked at the source, finding little Gohan zooming past, another  
ball of Ki forming in his hands. "Runt!"

Distracted even a little, Ranma took advantage, trapping Vegeta's  
wrist in his teeth, arms snaking between Vegeta's and pushing them  
apart, freeing his throat. As Vegeta gaped in surprise, Gohan's next  
ball of Ki smashed into his side, and he grunted in annoyance.

"Stop biting!" Vegeta roared, slamming his head into Ranma's face.  
Ranma's mouth opened, releasing Vegeta's flesh. Grabbing Ranma's  
head with both hands, Vegeta hurled the other ape away with relative  
ease. He was growing tired, the constant abuse from Ranma slowly  
taking its toll. Another ball of Ki exploded on the back of his head and  
he winced, spinning around, eyeing Gohan. "You're brave, just as a  
Saiyan should be!"

Vegeta's mouth opened wide and Gohan saw to the back, a bright  
light building in the dark. Gohan's found himself lost in the sight,  
forgetting the danger he had undoubtedly put himself in. Without a  
chance, he watched as the Ki erupted out, tearing apart the sky as  
it came at him. He raised his arms feebly, waiting for the blast to hit.  
Something else hit him instead, sending him back through the air and  
he hurried to right himself. When he managed to regain his senses,  
he caught the tail end of Vegeta's blast vanishing.

As it did, Ranma's massive ape form appeared, snarling in rage. He  
had swatted Gohan aside, out of the blasts path. Whether he had  
done it consciously or not, it didn't matter to Gohan, only that he was  
still alive. Still, Ranma looked utterly furious, even more so than before,  
stomping his feet and pounding the ground with both fists. Perhaps  
there was still some cognizant thought in his brain after all.

Vegeta leapt at Ranma, ramming into him and wrapping him up in his  
arms. He held him tight, trapping the other apes arms at his sides.  
"No more of this!" His hands found the base of Ranma's tail and  
tugged once, ripping it off easily.

Ranma roared in shock, eyes going wide. Instantly his body  
began to shrink, hair shedding away, disappearing into nothing.  
His snout retracted back into his face, teeth sliding back to their  
normal size. And then he was human, naked, and falling to Earth.

"Ranma-san!" Gohan cried.

He was snatched out of the air by Vegeta, whose hand  
enveloped his entire body except for his head. Vegeta lifted  
Ranma to his face, the tiny man barely conscious. His head  
bobbed to the side, eyes struggling to remain open. They  
snapped open when Vegeta began squeezing his fist.

"ARGH!" Ranma screamed, feeling his body begin to break.

"You've pissed me off for the last time," Vegeta growled. "You  
would've made a good underling. Too bad."

"You're . . ."

"What's that?" Vegeta asked, holding Ranma closer to his ear.

"You're . . . really ugly . . ."

Sneering, Vegeta turned to face Gohan and held his hand up high  
about his head, Ranma limp in his grasp. "Are you watching, brat?  
Pay close attention to how your friend dies!"

"What're you doing, moron! Just throw it already!" a voice  
shouted, one Vegeta hadn't heard before.

Vegeta's body tensed and he looked around the area, arm above  
his head with a barely conscious Ranma held tight. As he turned,  
he saw it and realized he had to avoid it at all costs if it were  
thrown.

The bald human had a small, glowing ball of white Ki floating over  
his hand, ready to be thrown. He opened his mouth, preparing to  
blow the bald human and his ball of Ki into history. And then, like  
a candle, the Ki in his throat flickered and extinguished as his tail  
was lopped from his body.

Yajirobe landed, katana held overhead, scurrying away as fast as  
he could. "I've done my part! No more for me!" he shouted, scared  
for his life. He had used his own distraction to catch the great ape  
off guard, surprising even himself with his ingenious plan.

"My tail! No!" Vegeta's body began shrinking, just as Ranma's had.

Vegeta's hand could no longer hold the other Ranma and he was  
suddenly free falling. He landed on his head, collapsing into his  
back, moaning softly. Struggling, he managed to push himself to  
his hands and knees, feeling no embarrassment from his  
complete nudity. His body was more black and blue than its  
normal hue, his left arm hanging limp at his side. He stumbled  
over, the world spinning around him. "Wh-what the hell . . .?"

"Suicidal fools . . . Do you know what it means to make me  
angry?" Vegeta growled. His body was covered in bruises  
and scratches, with bite marks on his shoulder, side and  
wrist. His eye, the one Goku has shot, was slammed shut,  
burned and scarred. "Do you want to die so much? You will!"

In an instant he vanished, reappearing in front of Gohan.  
"And you will be first."

"Gohan, run!" Krillin shouted before Vegeta slugged the  
young boy in the stomach.

"You're half Saiyan, aren't you, boy? Is that your best?  
Like father, like son," Vegeta said, lifting Gohan off his feet.  
He slammed his forehead into the young boy's face, making  
Gohan's nose bleed. "Well, at least your blood is red."

Krillin was speeding toward Vegeta's back, Spirit Bomb  
still hovering over his hand. He wasn't sure whether it  
was good that Vegeta had forgotten him, the loss of his  
tail clearly the reason, but he wasn't going to waste the  
opportunity given. When he felt that he was in close  
enough range, Krillin flung the white ball at Vegeta,  
screaming, "HIT HIM!"

And then time froze as Krillin realized his mistake. So many  
different things could happen in the next second that Krillin,  
in his hurry to help, hadn't considered.

If the Spirit Bomb hit Vegeta, it would explode with Gohan  
right in his hand, hurting them both. Or Vegeta could use  
Gohan as a shield. King Kai had been in his head, talking  
him through the Bomb's use. If it hit Gohan, the boy  
wouldn't survive. Krillin's biggest hope, unfortunately,  
was for Vegeta to avoid the ball completely.

Krillin was swearing in his head as he watched the Bomb  
inch closer to its target.

Instead, a miracle occurred, and what felt like twenty  
things happened at once.

First, a small Ki blast slammed into Gohan's stomach.  
Gohan was blown free of Vegeta's grip, away from the  
incoming explosion, though in pain nonetheless.

At the same time, Vegeta jumped, or at least tried to.  
A moment after he left the ground, a hand grabbed his  
ankle, stopping him in place. Vegeta had just enough  
time to look down and see Ranma, a blood grin on his  
lips, clinging to his foot before the Spirit Bomb crashed  
into his side. His body bent inward, pushed by the force  
of the Ki, and Ranma found himself being pulled along.

Before he was dragged too high, Ranma let go and started  
falling, having done all he needed. He crashed to the earth,  
fully spent, the muscles in his body quaking. He didn't think  
there was anything left for him to give.

Gohan and Krillin watched in awe as Vegeta was launched  
skyward, the Spirit Bomb engulfing his body as it did. Large  
bolts of electric Ki shot from its growing form, its circumference  
increasing each second. Vegeta's body was barely visible at its  
center, chunks of his armor breaking off and disintegrating in  
the bomb's spreading explosion.

Krillin and Gohan shielded their eyes as the light from the Ki  
became too bright to stand. Gohan felt himself being pushed  
back from the Ki's power.

And then Vegeta was rocketed away, screaming in agony as  
he vanished into the sky. Soon he was nothing but a speck  
in the distance.

"Gohan . . ." Goku muttered.

"Yes!" Krillin cheered, leaping into the air, rushing to Goku.  
"We did it! Hah! We did it! Goku, we did it!"

"Daddy!" Gohan shouted, landed next to his father, covering  
his stomach, the place he had been hit a moment before.  
"We . . . we really beat him, dad!"

"Of course we did. You had any doubt?" Krillin replied, though  
the bruises on his body told a completely different story.

"You both look . . . pretty awful . . ." Goku said.

"Not as bad as you," Krillin replied with a weak smile.

"Ranma-san!" Gohan gasped and leapt away, leaving Goku  
and Krillin surprised.

Something small appeared in the sky, falling toward earth like  
a shooting star. It steadily grew larger the further it fell.

"Huh?" Krillin uttered.

Rather unceremoniously, Vegeta hit the ground. He didn't move  
from where he lay.

"He's dead. No doubt about it," Krillin said and started limping  
his way over to the corpse.

Ranma blinked as a shadow came over his face. Gohan's face  
appeared over him and he blinked in surprise. "Ranma-san!" he  
cried and Ranma's ears shuddered from the force. "Are you alright?"

"I'm cold," Ranma muttered, well aware of his nudity. "What  
happened? Why am I naked? What where's Vegeta?" he asked,  
unable to stop the questions from pouring out. He remembered  
nothing except Vegeta firing the strange sphere of Ki into the sky  
and then he was naked, held in a giant King Kong sized fist,  
being squeezed to death.

"We beat him! He's dead!" Gohan exclaimed, dropping to his  
knees beside Ranma's head. "You saved me!"

Ranma raised his good arm, trying to rub the exhaustion from his  
eyes. "Ah, sorry about shooting you, was the only thing I could  
think of to get you away before that attack hit."

Gohan smiled brightly, not disturbed by Ranma's lack of clothing.  
Instead, he pulled off his GI shirt and handed it to Ranma. "Here,  
so you're not naked."

Sitting up slowly, Ranma chuckled to himself, and rubbed the back  
of his head with his good hand. "Thanks, Kid," he said, quickly  
wrapping the top around his waist as best he could.

"He was one nasty guy, but a brave foe. I guess I'll at least dig a  
grave," Krillin said, standing over Vegeta's body.

"For yourselves!" Vegeta roared, opening his one good eye.  
Everyone stopped, stunned by the proclamation and Vegeta's  
seemingly invulnerability. He slowly pushed himself to his feet with  
Krillin frozen in place only a foot away. "You've given me quite a  
beating . . . I almost thought you had me on that last one."

Krillin managed to step back once before Vegeta backhanded him  
across the face, knocking him down like a limp bag.

"After I've killed you all, I'll take time to heal and then I'll finally  
destroy this trash planet!" The Saiya-Jin Prince began a slow march  
toward Goku's prone form. "You bastards, taxing my powers to the  
limit . . . actually HURTING me. But what hurts me the most," and  
he spit up a wag of blood, "is my PRIDE, for struggling with scum  
like you . . .

"So die! Just DIE already!" And everything around him was  
exploding.

Ranma tried shielding himself but the explosion was too great  
and he found himself flying backwards, against his will. Rocks  
and burning Ki pelted his body from every direction. His back  
crashed into a rock, stopping his momentum with a violent  
collision. He cried out in pain as a wave of Ki washed over him,  
crumbling the boulder he had slammed into. When the dust  
cleared his eyes were unfocused, and he narrowed them in  
order to see clearly. The first thing that caught his attention  
was Vegeta, standing over Gohan's prone body.

"His tail's grown back!" Vegeta was shouting. He tore his gaze  
away from the furry appendage to the glowing ball still floating  
in the sky. "No! I can't let him transform!"

Goku, with all that remained in his body, was launching himself  
at Vegeta, yelling bloody murder.

"What!" Vegeta barely avoided Goku's punch, even though  
there was nothing behind it. It glanced off his side, chipping  
his armor and doing little more.

Goku collapsed to the ground in a heap, groaning weakly.  
Vegeta's foot drove into his side and he grunted pitifully.  
"Gohan . . .!" he groaned. "Look . . ."

"Kakkarot . . ." Vegeta rumbled. "Come to watch your son die  
with your own eyes? Or maybe I should kill you first and make  
your son watch?" He grabbed Gohan's tail, pulling it taut before  
slamming his heel down on Goku's good knee, snapping it  
easily. Ignoring Goku's cries of pain, Vegeta lifted his foot again,  
stepping on his chest, shattering his ribs completely.

"Who says I'm not nice, letting father and son die together like -"  
His taunt was cut off as Ranma crashed into his side, tackling him  
off the boulder. They tumbled down the side, bouncing off of sharp  
edges as they fell until they hit the ground.

Ranma gritted his teeth, covering his side protectively. The fall  
had added an additional toll to his already overwhelming amount  
of bodily punishment. Some of his ribs had broken this time,  
he could feel it. He lifted his head to look at Vegeta, who was  
climbing back to his feet slowly. It was more than Ranma could  
manage.

"Dead . . . dead . . . you're dead . . ." Vegeta was muttering. The  
fury in his voice would melt the flesh from Ranma's bone with its  
heat were it able.

Chuckling to himself, Ranma smiled boldly. "What're you waiting  
for . . . come on!" he goaded.

Vegeta limped toward Ranma, fists clenched, a wild sneer on his  
lips. "Kill . . . you . . ."

'If looks could kill, I'd already be dead,' Ranma thought. When  
Vegeta was close enough, Ranma pointed a warning finger at  
Vegeta. "Be careful where you step, there're a lot of cracks  
around here," he said before jamming his finger into one in  
front of his face. "Bakusai Tenketsu!"

"Wha -?" was all Vegeta managed before the ground  
exploded beneath him, sharp rocks flying into his legs and  
arms. A particularly large rock stabbed into his stomach  
and he fell back, covering his wounded belly. Blood poured  
through the hole in his armor.

"Tricks!" Vegeta spat literally and figuratively, blood issuing  
from his mouth. "Is that all you have?"

"Anything goes . . ." Ranma said, grinning at Vegeta's  
displeasure.

They were interrupted by a feral snarl, the same kind they  
had been making minutes before. Together they looked,  
finding a great ape, smaller than they had been, perched  
on the rocks above them, baring its fangs.

"No!"

For the first time, Ranma saw hopelessness in Vegeta's face.  
He covered his head as the beast leapt from his position,  
landing with all of its weight. Ranma was between its legs,  
something the ape appeared to realize as, even in its wild  
rage, it avoided damaging any area too close to him. It roared  
in Vegeta's face and Ranma wondered if it was doing so as  
protective gesture. He wasn't comfortable with the fact that  
the thirty foot ape was standing directly above him though.

"Go for the Saiyan, Gohan!" Krillin shouted.

"Do it, Gohan!" Goku added.

The beast, which was Gohan, bellowed in response to their  
orders, and swung a fist at Vegeta. When the attack was  
dodged, Gohan leapt into the air, intending to crush the pest  
with its body.

Vegeta barely got away as the ape crashed onto the spot he  
had just vacated. "If I weren't so wounded . . . Damnit, if it  
weren't . . . That moon I created . . . is going to last . . . another  
hour . . . I have to cut off his tail," the Saiya-Jin Prince panted,  
hardly able to catch his breath.

With the last vestige of strength, Vegeta formed the same  
spinning Ki as Krillin's, letting it float over the palm of his  
hand. When Gohan leapt for him again, he jumped too, finding  
the tail completely unprotected. He threw the disk of Ki and it  
easily sliced through the base of the tail, shocking the ape.

Vegeta's grin of triumph lasted only a second before it turned  
to horror, realizing the ape, even as it shrunk back to its human  
form, would land on top of him. "No! No! Move!" he cried as the  
beast made contact with his blocking arms and started forcing  
him down.

BOOM!

When the dust had cleared, Prince Vegeta was through. A  
naked Gohan lay half atop his chest. His energy was spent,  
blood poured from numerous wounds. There was nothing else  
for him to do but retreat. Reaching inside the breast plate of  
his armor, he pulled out a slim pad, and hammered down on a  
couple buttons. Seconds later his round spaceship appeared in  
the sky, softly landing a couple yards away.

"Th . . . there it is . . ." he mumbled.

"Wh-what's that . . .?" Krillin asked himself from where he laid,  
having a clear view of everything. "It's . . . it's his ship . . .!"

Vegeta started crawling to his ship, blood smeared across his  
forehead. "Ho . . . how could I lose . . . ?"

'I won't let him get away so easily . . .' Krillin thought, pushing  
himself to his feet. One of his arms hung limp at his side, but he  
ignored it, forcing himself to catch up with the defeated Saiyan.

"I'll give him the killing blow . . . I didn't get trashed for nothing,"  
he said to himself, picking up Yajirobe's falling katana. The fat  
martial artist had vanished after cutting off Vegeta's tail, though  
apparently had been caught up in the ensuing explosion.

He was getting closer, catching up to Vegeta faster than the  
Saiyan could crawl. Suddenly he was right behind Vegeta as  
the Prince tried desperately to climb inside his vessel. "You  
killed my friends! I'll avenge them!"

"I can't . . . I can't move! Shit!" Vegeta shouted in desperation,  
climbing to the entranceway of his tiny round ship. How could it  
end like this? He was Prince Vegeta; he would die at the hands  
of a lowly Earthling. And then the bald human didn't strike and  
Vegeta saw his chance. He mustered all his strength and pulled  
himself inside. With a glance back, he saw the short human's  
face. There was struggle written all over it, as if he couldn't make  
up his mind whether or not to strike.

In fact, Krillin was struggling. Struggling with the information and  
pleading that Goku was laying on him in his mind. 'Listen! If you  
think he's gonna come around like Piccolo did, you're wrong! I'm  
telling you right now! We can't change him, he has no emotions!  
You know that!'

'Yes, I also know how strong he is. I can't find the words, but . . .  
I saw him dying and . . . I told myself that it was a shame,' Goku  
thought.

'A shame?'

'After following King Kai's training I thought I reached the top,  
but . . . Vegeta is ten times stronger than me . . . it was just like  
when I fought Piccolo . . . maybe it's the Saiya-jin in me, but next  
time . . . I'll beat him alone! I'm begging you, Krillin, let him live . . .'

Krillin spit in disgust, dropping the katana to the ground. "Okay, I  
accept your bullheadedness, Goku, because we've saved Earth  
already, but promise me something. Next time you fight him, beat  
him by yourself!"

Goku chuckled in pain. "I will."

The door to the ship was lifting, closing slowly with a loud whirl  
sound. "Listen well, worms," Vegeta started, "Next time there  
won't be any miracles! So enjoy yourselves before my return . . ."  
When the door was shut, the ship was rocketing into the air,  
disappearing into space.

Krillin lifted Gohan in his arms, shaking his head in disbelief. "It's  
okay, don't worry, he's gone . . ."

"Why not kill him?" Yajirobe asked, stepping out from behind a  
boulder twice his size. He was covered in scrapes and bruises, but  
nothing too terrible. "Stupid Goku . . ."

"I feel bad about our dead friends, but . . . we can bring them back . . ."  
Krillin replied, his voice full of emotion.

"I'm sorry, Krillin," Goku said.

A loud roar cut through the silence and for a moment Krillin thought  
Vegeta might have returned. When he looked up, his eyes filled with  
relief.

Master Roshi was waving from the window of one of Bulma's capsule  
ships. Bulma herself was behind the wheel.

Next Time: Chapter 5 – Recuperating Is Hard! Ranma Heals With  
New Friends!

With the battle over, Ranma is taken along to the hospital with the  
others and must deal with their insanity as well as his family's when  
he show up for a visit.

Author's Notes: Churned this out in two days, out of boredom I  
guess. One reason I haven't written much in the way of fanfiction  
is cause of real life. Have to work, make cash to live, and all that  
crap. Also working on an actual novel, which obviously I'm putting  
most of my time and energy into, so it doesn't suck something  
fierce lol Hope you enjoyed, rather bland chapter, I suppose. Next  
one will be more fun. I cut out a bit of stuff just to move the chapter  
faster. We all know Krillin has a long ass conversation with King Kai,  
didn't feel like typing that, and some other things, like Yajirobe, and  
Gohan's transformation.

Don't mind the formatting, I just think it's easier to read this way. More like a page in a book, instead of having to read all the way across the page, like for this . . . feels like more of strain on the eyes.


End file.
